Missing
by Evil-Snow-Bear
Summary: When Squall is kidnapped and no clues are found, Seifer decides to step in and be the hero for once. Yeah, totally suck at summeries. Sorry. Rated T for now. Chapter 11 now up :)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't own homies.

Warnings: None really, just a starting chapter with maybe bad language. Is rated T for now, though it might change later on!

A/N: I know, this chapter isn't really all that long, I apologise, though the next one might be longer. Anyway R&R and let me know what you think!

ENJOY!

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><p>Seifer whistled a happy tune, adjusting his sunglasses when the bright, unwavering sun of Fisherman's Horizon gleamed brightly into his eyes. He glanced at the fishing rod to his left, watching for any sign that he had a bite but the rod barely moved so he went back to staring at the sea, ignoring how the stormy colour reminded him of a certain someone.<p>

Sighing, he closed his eyes. It had been at least six months since the end of the war and people were only just beginning to trust him. Though he couldn't complain too much, the citizens of FH had welcomed him with open arms, under the rule he didn't use Hyperion for anything of course, but it wasn't like he needed to use his trusty blade anyway. FH was boring with little excitement. No monsters ever ventured this far along the train tracks now that they were back in use. The president of Esthar had reopened the Esthar station, allowing outsiders to visit the desert metropolis. He himself had visited a few times but stopped when everyone kept giving him distrusting glances.

So he stayed in FH, he didn't dare catch a train to Balamb, he would undoubtedly be shot on sight by SeeD and he quite liked his life, thanks. Even if it had it's unbearabley boring moments, like now for example. He had been sitting here for hours, sipping beer and waiting for a fish to take the bait. Though the fish had myseriously disappeared today, he would have usually caught a few by now. Shrugging it off, he took another swig of his beer and hoped he could nap for a few hours.

It wasn't to be, unfortunately and he opened his eyes when he heard Raijin call his name, running towards him with flapping arms. Seifer snorted, wondering if the other man was trying to fly. He sat up slowly, not wanting to get a minor case of vertigo. He had gotten up way too quick and had felt dizzy plenty of times, it wasn't a pleasant experience. Raijin finally reached him, panting heavily and resting his hands on his knee's. It was only now that Seifer saw the panicked expression on the other mans face.

"What's up, Rai?" Something unsettling fluttered round Seifer's stomach, and the bad feeling grew worse as the seconds ticked by. It wasn't often Raijin looked worried, and if he did, it couldn't be good.

"Dude, you should come and see the news!" Seifer was about to shrug it off, thinking some monster had foolishly attacked a train or something, however at the nervous and almost hysterical gaze the other had, he changed his mind. Something really bad must have happened.

He followed Raijin, leaving his beer and fishing rod knowing no one would steal it and he could go back for it later. When they reached Raijin's house, Fujin was there, standing in front of the television, her expression cold and stoic as she flicked through the channels. What Seifer heard near enough made his heart stop and he was sure the stuffy room dropped a few degrees. There was a woman reporter, her face solomn and she looked like she was about to burst into tears as she reported the lasted news from outside of Balamb Garden.

_"-It is unknown how they got past security and there are no leads so far, all we know is that Commander Squall Leonhart has been kidnapped."_

Seifer inahled sharply just to make sure he was still breathing, this couldn't be happening, he told himself over and over. He was considering pinching himself to make sure this wasn't a dream, there was no way in Hell Squall would let himself get kidnapped. The brunette would kick anyone's ass before they even got within three feet of the Commander. For fuck sake the brunette had defeated Ultimecia, the toughest bitch around and walked away without a scratch!

Raijin was staring at him with a pleading gaze, asking silently about what they were going to do. All three owed Squall a great deal, Hyne they owed the man their lives! If it wasn't for Squall, Seifer was sure they'd be rotting in D-District prison by now. Galbadia held a lot of grudges against them and demanded that they be handed over for prosicution. Squall being the Matyr he was, argued for days with Galbadia and in the end won Seifer and his friends a pardon of their crimes.

As long as they stayed far, far away from any land occupied by Galbadia. Which was fine, it wasn't like Seifer was going to visit Deiling City anytime soon. Seifer sighed, rubbing a gloved hand over his face, his mind feeling as if a hurricane had gone through it, leaving his thoughts a jumbled mess.

He was still having a hard time believing this was happening. Fujin had long since turned the TV off and was instead waiting for Seifer's decision. Her and Raijin would follow the blond to the depths of Hell and back if he so wished.

"IDEA!" Seifer glanced at the silverette, his gaze questioning as the woman folded her arms over her chest, looking as if the answer was simple. Raijin on the other was lost to what the woman was planning.

"You've got an idea? What is it, y'know?" Fujin charged up to the man, kicking him sharply in the shin and huffed.

"FIND SQUALL!" Seifer couldn't help the chuckle sounding a little bitter. There wasn't many places they could go without either being chased out or shot. Fujin seemed to catch onto that thought. She smiled secretly and Seifer suddenly understood her plan.

"Balamb Garden will be searching for him, though they're like lost children without Squall there to guide them. They'll need help." Seifer scratched at his five o'clock shadow, absently noting that he needed to shave but there were more important things going on, like getting to Balamb Garden without being killed by the brady bunch.

Clapping his hands together and the prospect of a challenge, he ordered his friends to gear up and meet him at the Trainstation in ten minutes. The only way to get into Balamb Garden would to be caught. Every member of SeeD had orders that shouldd they find either member of Seifer's crew, they were to be taken straight to Squall, though that was a little out of the question now that the brunette was missing, they would still be taken to the one in charge. No doubt that was Quistis.

Seifer hurried home, nearly breaking down his own front door and took the stairs two at a time. He grabbed Hyperion and gently, despite the rushing, placed her in her case. Grabbing his trench coat, he was out of the house faster than possible and made it to the Trainstation in record time, ignoring how the locals frowned at him. He hated to admit even to himself but he was anxious, the bad feeling he had gotten earlier was refusing to leave. He just hoped he could be of some service to the heros of the world. Shaking his head, he noticed his friends hurrying towards him and they quickly purchased tickets for Balamb from the puzzled ticket clerk who watched them disappear onto the platform with a raised brow.

They only had to wait five minutes before they were seated on the train, Seifer staring out the window and getting lost in his thoughts. This whole situatuion seemed wrong, and he prayed to Hyne that Squall was still alive.

After all, Seifer hated owing people.

The train ride was slow and boring, Seifer felt himself dozing off every now and then only to wake back up when the train rocked, or someone announced something over the intercom. Fujin had took to checking everyones equipment more than once while Raijin simply slept the ride off.

"The train will be arriving at Balamb in ten minutes." _Finally_, Seifer thought, stretching and hearing his back pop in several places. He rolled his shoulders and grabbed Hyperion's case, watching with amusement as Fujin yanked Raijin off his seat, the bulky man hitting the metal floor with a thud and groaning while Fujin simply huffed, muttering 'Idiot.' under her breath. They all stood by the doors, waiting for the train to reach the station and stop. The train lurched to a stop and the doors opened with a hiss. The passengers getting onto the train all stopped and their eyes widened as Seifer, Fujin and Raijin all strolled off the Train and towards the exit. Ignoring how Station attendants whispered to themselves and reached for their walkie-talkies.

They had barely got past the Junk shop before they found themselves surrounded by a group of SeeDs, though to Seifer they looked like kids who barely knew how to use their weapons. All three of them put the hands up in surrender, no point fighting when the SeeDs were going to take them to the place they were heading to.

Seifer smirked when he saw a Balamb military car pull up, at least he wasn't going to have to walk to Garden now.

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><p>AN: Ha, Seifer likes free rides XD Well, so do I. Better than standing in the freezing cold waiting for the bus or walking :) So, review and tell me what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: me do not own sadly, or Quistis would be gagged and bound somewhere in D-District, Seifer would be my awesome gunblade weilding body guard and Squall would be his partner in crime. Griever would be my pet dog XD and maybe I'd put Zell in rehab 'cos of his obsession with hotdogs...just eww.

Warnings: Quistis bashing, aggitated Seifer. Squall having a bad headache. KIDNAPPER! in general. Oh and Bad language, I think it's only in one sentence but still, you've been warned!

A/N: *dodges gunblades* people please! I know I'm late and I apologise completely but I've updated and Chapter three is done, I'm just checking for mistakes and tweaking it here and there and when I'm free from college, I'll update again, promise! Remeber to review and tell me what you think, I'll send you hugs!

ENJOY!

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><p>Seifer was pacing.<p>

He never paced or tried to wear a line into the carpet before but today just seemed perfect for the action, so he paced. Like a caged lion, snarling at any innocent cadet who dared to enter the room to ask if him or his posse needed anything, to which the poor teen left shaking in his or her boots, close to tears with the order of a strong coffee, black no sugars, a simple cup of tea with at least two sweeteners or fours sugars (Raijin ordered that) and a simple glass of water with a slice of lime. Fujin was the practical one after all.

Seifer was still pacing even when his drink came, he paced while he drank it too. He was just to aggrivated to do anything else. Quistis had left him a bad mood when she had immediately began to question him before he could even step out of the military car, as if he knew everything to what was going on and she proceeded to nag him like a mother until finally they reached the meeting room and still having no answers, Quistis had stormed off to deal with some politician who was waiting on line two.

Raijin was gaping out the large glass window, sniggering to himself every now and then when some cadet tripped over their own feet. Fujin was leaning calmly up the wall, scanning the room closely, a speculative gleam in her eye. She sighed in annoyance and pinched the bridge of her nose when she noticed that Seifer as now stomping around the room. The blond was never a patient person, and he didn't like being kept waiting. How the man was so good at fishing she would never know.

However the loud childish sighs where beginning to grate on her nerves.

"STOP!" Amazingly Seifer listened, frowning at her before flopping himself down on the large office chair. Instantly Seifer was bombarded with the scent of gunpowder, strawberries and the typical smell of aftershave. It took him a moment or two to place the scent, knowing he had smelt it plenty of times, until it finally hit Seifer that he was sitting in the Commanders chair. The smell of gunpowder was normal, it came with weilding Gunblades. He also knew Squall was a closet strawberry lover- Seifer had found that out when he hacked Squall's dorm code one day and snuck into the others room, only to find most products strawberry scented. Heck even the gun oil smelled like strawberries!- and the aftershave was normal too. Still when Seifer found Squall, which he would, he made a mental note to tease the other about his obsession with strawberries.

He sighed, thinking about who would want to kidnap Squall, seriously it was impossible! Besides Squall's behaviour towards people, to which nobody took any notice anyway, no one had a reason to dislike him. Hell, the whole world idolised the brunette, which could lead to stalkers but Squall could handle a stalker no problem, after the brunette did have a six month relationship with Rinoa, for Hynes sake. Rinoa was nice don't get him wrong, but there was something about that screamed 'stalker ex-girlfriend', and she had already proved how stubborn she could be once put her mind to something. Her liberation of Timber as proof enough.

He was knocked out of his thoughts when there was a happily rythmn of someone knocking on the door before Rinoa bounced in, a smile on her face. Selphie was close behind, beaming brightly in her yellow dress and nearly blinding everyone with the shear glow that she had.

"Hiya guys!" Selphie squealed, running towards a frightened Raijin for a hug which she got after she tackled the large man to the floor as if he wasn't twice her size and weight. Rinoa chuckled and professionally shook hands with Fujin before nodding towards Seifer, who was unfortunately being glomped by Selphie. The nunchaku user moved _fast_.

"Waa! Seify I've missed you sooooo much! Quisty is such a bossy bore-" And so Selphie went on telling an uncomfortable Seifer how Quistis was so bossy and how the whip user needed to get her head checked because, seriously who thought putting flowers in Squall's office would liven the man up? The brunette also informed the blond that Squall had been acting strange lately, being secretive about certain messages he kept recieving. This lead Seifer to ask the brunette knew about such notes and she giggled evilly, her hands behind her back while she bounced on her heels.

"Sometimes Squall forgets things, like locking his office door while he goes for his dinner." Seifer actually chuckled at this because they all knew that when Squall was distracted by something, he often forgot everything else. Seifer remembered the time he found Griever lying in the Training Centre, and how it took Squall half an hour to realise it was missing. Seifer had the great pleasure of seeing the faint blush on Squall's cheeks as the brunette snatched the necklace from him, a mumbled 'thanks' thrown in his direction before Squall had vanished.

"So what do this notes say, y'know?" Rinoa was the one who answered, chewing on her lip.

"They're from his dad, Laguna. And more letters than notes. Laguna keeps mentioning that Squall is welcome any time and that all he has to do is leave."

"So? Maybe Ice Prince got tired of being everyones hero and wanted to live his life." Seifer snapped out a little more harshly than he meant. He was annoyed at the fact that Squall's so called friends all expected him to be their hero for the rest of his life. Rinoa glared, taking a step forward.

"We know that! And we don't want him to be our hero, he's our friend," Rinoa sighed and crossed her arms, looking interested in the carpet. "But, we've got in touch with Laguna... He knows nothing of these letters and he's swore to us that if he wanted to talk to Squall, he'd damn well use the phone or come here himself. Laguna isn't the type of person to write letters anyway. He's a man of action, even if he does act like a goofball at times."

"So, do you think Squall knew these letters were fakes?"

"We don't know, they were pretty well forged, if it wasn't for the slight wobble on the curve of the lower case G and E, we would never have been able to tell the difference in handwriting."

"Wait, these letters where hand written? Who the hell hand writes letters now-a-days?" Seifer was truly aghast by it, he couldn't stand writing even memo's or small notes to remind Raijin to get milk, he'd rather do it the long way and write it up on the computer and print it off. Selphie giggled at Seifers reaction.

"Kidnappers apparently." Everyone gave the brunette a withering glare while she laughed herself silly at her own joke. Rinoa cleared her throat, looking somber.

"Do you think we'll find him?" Selphie was quiet instantly and everyone couldn't look each other in the eye, well nearly everyone. Seifer straightened his shoulders and snorted, getting their attention.

"Of course we will. You have me on your team, and you know by experience how relentless I can be. I chased you for months before giving in because of your father, remember?" At this Seifer gave Rinoa a pointed look and he was pleased to see the bright blush staining Rinoa's cheeks as she glanced away, a small relieved smile on her face.

"Yeah," It was quiet and lacked conviction until Rinoa looked up, her brown eyes burning with determination and her hand clenched into fists. "Yeah! We'll find Squall and bring him home...And maybe..." Rinoa smiled warmly at Seifer, taking his hand and looking as if she knew some big secret. However before she could complete her sentence, Quistis came storming in, looking tousled and aggitated. Seifer couldn't help but snicker silently, ignoring the warning glances Raijin and Fujin gave him. Quistis glared at all of them.

"What is going on here?" Selphie rolled her eyes, huffing out a breath and placing her hands on her hips.

"We were discussing how we're going to get Squall back." Quistis looked skeptical and haughty, making Seifer's hackles rise. For someone who claimed to care about Squall, she sure wasn't acting like it. But that could be due to the stress she was now under as Acting Commander in Squall's absence. _Still isn't a good enough excuse._ A dark voice whispered angrily in Seifer's mind and he agreed with it too. So he took a step forward and stared the woman down, watching as her steely gaze wavered. Seifer inwardly rolled his eyes, they all could try to glare but there was only one person who could make you feel as if he was crushing everything that made you, you. Shame Squall wasn't there.

"Good thing I'm here then, because I will find Squall and I _will_ bring him back. And then you can play happy family again." With that Seifer sat back down in Squalls chair and gave Quistis a look of superiority, to which the strawberry blond glared harder. Everyone watched the stare down with bated breath, they all knew Seifer meant what he said and they all knew Quistis did not like Seifer because of what happened in the war. So the woman snorted loudly, smirking.

"Oh? And why are you helping us, Seifer? We all know you don't exactly like Squall, so.. Why? Hoping to get fame?" Instantly Seifers face dropped and Fujin and Raijin both took steps back, sticking close to the wall to avoid the bloodshed should the murder of one Quistis Trepe happen. Even Rinoa and Selphie glanced at each other warily, the look Seifer was wearing was blank, devoid of emotion and held many promises that weren't good. Seifer simply stared as he spoke, his voice low, deep and manacing.

"Believe it or not, _instructor_, me and Squall got on just fine. Sure we had fights, sure I was an ass to him most of the time, but we are_ friends_," Here Seifer sat forward, the room shrinking on the woman who was standing there, her mouth slightly open as Quistis took a step back, looking honestly frightened. "Or did you think Squall was fighting every politcian to protect my ass for the Hell of it? I know I owe Squall a lot, but don't you dare suggest that I'm doing this to get in worlds good books. I wouldn't stoop so low to your level, I don't need to. I don't give a flying fuck what the world thinks of me, and I never will." And with one last cold, unforgiving glare in Quistis's direction, Seifer stood from Squall's chair, barely holding himself back from tearing the woman limb from limb and instead asked Selphie to take him to Squall's room immediately.

The messenger girl was quick to comply, surprised at how Seifer had gone from his normal self to...to a cold hearted mercenary. She was afraid, but knew that Quistis had this reaction coming, and she wasn't going to feel sorry for the woman. Rinoa simply tutted, looking disgusted as she offered to take Fujin and Raijin to the cafeteria for some coffee, the two of them readily agreed.

Quistis waited until everyone was gone before exhaling shakily, looking down at her trembling hands as she took several steadying breaths. Not even while Seifer had been working for Ultimecia had the blond looked so cold, so dangerous, so ready to _kill_ her. She shuddered and slowly left the room, Seifers words ringing loudly in her mind. She had always wondered why Squall was so adamant to fight for Seifer's freedom, why he risked starting another war with Galbadia to have all Seifer's crimes aquitted. She had asked many times why he was doing all this for a man who didn't deserve to be happy, she had always pondered why Squall's usual frosty look turned colder when she asked. Now she knew why. However that still didn't mean she wasn't confused and didn't have a million questions. But she would wait until Squall was found, at least the chocolate haired man wouldn't kill her. Though right now, she needed to focus on finding Squall and fast.

Things like this never ended good...

It was dark and the air tasted and smelled like damp and full of rust, which wasn't helping the rolling of Squall's stomach as he came to, his head pounding like a behemoth was trying ram its way out of his skull. He groaned, taking a deep breath and regretting it when his stomach lurched up his throat and he was forced to expell whatever he had eaten before he woke up here. Where-ever here was. He blinked a few times, trying his best not to throw up again as he moved away from the mess he made, his head swimming and the room spinning as he did so.

There was a tell tale drip that was the source of the damp, and the rust came from the metal doors that reminded Squall of the infirmary doors at Balamb. He slowly looked round the room, careful not to do anything to aggrivate his condition, even as his stomach made a complaint at the tiniest movement. Squall was not so stupid to not know he had a possible concussion, Hyne he had got hit in the head twice by an unknown attacker! The first blow had simply stunned him, the second knocked him out and he just noticed that his hair felt sticky and matted together. The attacker had drawn blood.

Sighing heavily, he realised he had no idea where he was, however that didn't mean the metal walls weren't familier, he was sure he'd seen them before. Squall felt frustration crawl up his spine, not used to feeling helpless and not liking that he was now feeling it. Though he was confused, he had been kidnapped but his kidnapper had restrained him, or even disarmed him. The hidden pocket knife still hidden in his boot, so what did the kidnapper want? Squall stood slowly, moving round the room at a snails pace because of his throbbing head.

_"How does it feel, SeeD? To be lost and weak?"_ Squall winced as the crackle of the intercom grated over his headache, making it worse. He glanced round the room but saw nothing. The voice over the intercom chuckled.

_"You can't escape,"_ The voice sounded oddly smug of itself. Squall glared.

"Whatever." The voice chuckled again and Squall finally made it out to be a womans. This only confused him more.

_"So cold, you should warm up a little. How do you expect to get his heart when you freeze him away?"_ Squall simply glared harder, unwilling to acknowledge what the mysterious woman was saying.

"What do you want?" He asked, annoyed at how trapped he felt and how worried he was about what this woman knew about him.

_"To see you suffer. To watch you're crushed expression as I take away everything you love." 'That won't be a lot then.'_ Squall thought to himself, ignoring the panic that shot through his chest. His friends could look after themselves. _He_ could look after himself.

"They're stronger then you think." Squall said, his annoyance growing when the woman just laughed again as if she knew something he didn't. Which was true in this case.

_"Yes, but is he? You know he will do anything to find you. Anything."_

"Leave Seifer out of this!" Squall winced when he realised his mistake, knowing he had just given her what she wanted. He had risen to her bait and by the hysterical laughing, he knew that was what she was waiting for.

_"Poor lost Lion, nothing more than a hissing kitten without his big bad knight behind him." _And with that last jibe, the intercom clicked off, leaving Squall alone in his metal room that reminded him awefully of when he was D-District. Pushing that memory to the back of his mind, he walked over to the wall oppisite the door and sat on the floor. Staring at the door, he prayed to Hyne that while Seifer was undoubtedly looking for him, the blond watched his back. Squall didn't know who that woman was but something told him that she was dangerous, maybe more so than Ultimecia.

It was then his ears began to ring and there was low dulcet sound of a heart machine flatlining and Squall gripped his head in agony.

_'Ellone?'_

That was his last thought before succomed to darkness..

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><p>AN: *gasps* oooh what's going on? *looks around room* no really what's going on, because I have no freaking clue lol XD And I explained why Seifer was helping, besides wanting to pay Squall back for all the things he's done for him, Seifer is also worried about him too and maybe he has feelings about a certain Lion and he just doesn't know it yet. I kind of liked how Seifer went from normal to killer, I think it works well because of the past with Ultimecia. Anywho, read and review and tell me what you think! Who do you think is Squall's kidnapper hmm? And are they working alone?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: me do not own sadly, or Quistis would be gagged and bound somewhere in D-District, Seifer would be my awesome gunblade weilding body guard and Squall would be his partner in crime. Griever would be my pet dog XD and maybe I'd put Zell in rehab 'cos of his obsession with hotdogs...just eww.

Warnings: Quistis bashing. Suspicious OC. Squally having bad dreams. Seifer playing detective.

A/N: Yatta! See I_ told_ you I'd update :) Anyway nothing much to report other than I think I broke the keyboard typing so much XD Oh well. Read and Review and tell me what you think! Thanks to all who has reviewed, I send you all hugs! *starts packaging hugs*

Enjoy!

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><p>Seifer glared at the personal sheets in his hand, he had argued with Quistis for over an hour to get these papers, which she was lucky she survived as he was still very much pissed at her. He had to suspect it was an inside job, and he was instantly suspiscious of the Security as only they had access to the cameras and knew when and how to shut them down. The report from Security office was that they had no idea who disabled the camera's considering at the time the Captain was the one watching and he was the one to report the fact to Quistis in the morning.<p>

Nevertheless, something had Seifers hackles rising and he was determind to find out what it was. The whole thing reaked of on inside job, right down to the last detail of a bloody crankshaft being found in the Training Centre. Dr. Kadowaki had become a CSI for the day an tested the blood against her medical records, no surprise it came back as Squalls. It had been two days and they had only just found a clue. The good Doctor had checked for finger prints but found none, so whoever had kidnapped Squall had worn gloves. The Balamb police was helping too, sending guys to do the forensic work instead of a Doctor which Kadowaki had been pleased about as she had many injured cadets to look after.

Though the whole Garden was on high alert, normalcy had be resumed and classes had begun again, though no cadets were going out for training missions and the like as every available SeeD except Instructors were out looking for Squall. Seifer snorted, the others were at this moment in time going through a faze of deep depression, mumbling to each other that they would never find Squall, it often ended up with the blond having to give each one of them a prep talk. Really, Seifer felt like he was their father or something. They were all SeeDs and they were talking of giving up!

_Some friends they are._ Seifer throught as he threw the personal file of some SeeD in security on the floor, unbothered by the fact that the papers slipped out of the manilla folder and slid across the floor in a mess. He picked up another, reading the name on the top.

_**Captain Fredrick McEvoy.**_

Seifer flipped through the pages, snorting at how clean the guys record was. It was all praise from Cid for the countless mission the man had done, there were recommendations from both Balamb and Galbadia Garden for the man to be promoted, however he stayed on security. A little note was stapled underneath from McEvoy himself saying that the protection of the students was all he cared about.

Seifer snorted again, suspicious of such a saying and carried on to read through. McEvoy hadn't been in any fights, hadn't got any speeding tickets or other minor crimes like under aged drinking on Garden premises. Hell the man hadn't even got one detention! He was squeaky clean to the point Seifer was tempted to pour ink on the mans file just so he would have something damaging on his file!

He was interrupted from his thoughts when a knock sounded at his door, muttering for them to come in, he was vaguely pleased to see it was McEvoy. The man stood an inch smaller than himself, his SeeD uniform immaculate, not a crease anywhere. His brown hair was tied back neatly and his face was clean shaven. Seifer waved his hand boredly towards the chair oppisite him, raising a brow when McEvoy took it, sitting down with his back straight and professional.

"So, can I help you, McEvoy?" The man frowned minutely, confusion shining in his brown eyes. Seifer smirked, waving the mans file in the air. McEvoy tensed slightly, it was barely obvious however Seifer saw it and in his mind placed McEvoy in the suspicious box.

"You're looking through SeeD files? Why? What good is that going to do to find the Commander?" McEvoy asked, a hint of curiousness in his voice though mostly sounded flat. Seifer shrugged.

"Well, obviously it's an inside job. No one outside of Garden knew the codes to the cameras, never mind Squall's room. So it's easy to see that someone in SeeD had been watching Squall through the camera and memorized the code and then planned the kidnapping." Seifer said sounding as if he wasn't really all that interested, flipping through a few more pages, though his attention never left McEvoy who was at that moment grinding his teeth together. McEvoy snarled, standing up and slamming his hands down on the desk. Seifer raised a brow, a small smirk on his lips.

"How dare you accuse the Security of doing such a thing! I'm outraged that you would say that,_ ex-knight!_" McEvoy spat the last thing out, feeling his anger rise when Seifer smirked smugly, sitting back in the chair and folded his arms over his chest.

"Whoever said I was accusing the Security of kidnapping the Commander?" He asked with mock innocence, watching with glee as McEvoy's face paled just slightly and he seemed to flounder for words. The Captain of Security huffed and stormed out, leaving a very satisfied Seifer to sit there with arrogance as he picked up his phone and dialed Fujins number. After a few rings, the woman answered with a curt greeting.

"Hey Fu, I want you to gather as much information on Fredrick McEvoy, his SeeD code 7714326. I want everything, when and where he was born, when he left home, where his parents are living now. Everything." With that he hung up, calling Selphie to see if the copper haired female would be up to doing some sneaking around McEvoy's room. The bouncy girl readily agreed, sounding more chipper than she had a few hours ago. The bouncy woman and Rinoa had become new members of posse after the incident in Squall's meeting room, following any order he gave them.

He threw McEvoy's folder on the floor after reading it a little harder than necessary, ignoring how, just like the last folder, it spread across the floor, adding to the mess. He picked up another folder only to chuckle with happiness as he read the name across the top. He knew Squall would be pissed when he found that Seifer had gone snooping through his file but Seifer couldn't bring himself to care as he flipped the first page open and saw Squall enterance form into Garden. The next page was a list of achievements, the brunette had quite a few, the first the achievement for mastering the use of a Gunblade, the next was mastering magics and so on. He flipped the next page and raised a brow at the list of displineries Squall had gotten by the Garden Faculty and higher members of SeeD. Most were for being after curfew in the Training Centre, which was mainly Seifers fault as he had often goaded the man into having a spar with him after curfew.

One was for a fight that Seifer had started and gotten the brunette involved. However not all of them had been caused by the blond, in fact a few were quite recent. _Displinery for using foul language at a diplomat of Galbadia. Displinery for threatening war against Galbadia diplomats for the dismissal of capture and trial fo- Hyne, Squall you got all these displineries for me?_ It was true the most recent displineries against Squall and tarnishing his SeeD record was because he refused to allow and sign a document stating that Balamb Garden would aid in Seifer's arrest and trial. Seifer flicked through Squall file, frowning deeper and deeper at the notes posted here and there stating Squall future retirement from the military because of his actions towards the fair and legal warrent for Seifer to pay for his crimes.

Seifer felt a little guilty towards all the hate Squall was suffering because of him. At this rate Squall would be forced to step down as Commander of Garden and appoint someone else in his place which was ridiculous in his eyes as there was only one person who could rule over Garden and that was Squall. The brunette might have been forced into the position but he did his job well.

Sighing and closing Squall's file he gently placed it to the side, knocking some cadet reports to the floor. He wondered how Squall could sit for hours on end just looking at paper without getting bored, though he realised most of the work on Squalls desk was about him, reports on how he was living in FH, statements from the mayor of FH complimenting on Seifers good behaviour. He noticed that while Squall had been aloof at their last meeting a couple of months ago, the brunette had been keeping a real close eye on him. Like the good friend he was.

He thought he would be annoyed at the other Gunblader babying him, but he just felt relieved, inwardly happy that besides all the crap Seifer put the other through in the war, the torture, Squall was willing to risk his career, his life for him. It made Seifer feel...cared for. He hadn't had that feeling since before he left the Orphanage when Matron would give him her warm, mothery hugs and smiles. He barely heard the door opening.

"Squall has really been sticking his neck out for you." Seifer jumped, feeling his skin crawl and looked up at Rinoa who was leaning against the doorframe casually, her arms folded over her chest. Angelo was by her side, licking his paw while keeping a close eye on everything. The Sorceress walked in, plopping down in the chair and huffed out a sigh.

"I asked him once why he would do all this for you, no offense but you were our enemy. You know what he said?" Rinoa looked bemused and Seifer shook his head, he had a hard time wondering what Leonhart was thinking, never mind what the other had said way back when. Rinoa laughed.

"He said and I quote 'He might have been a pain in the ass and a bully, but he had the best intentions at heart before he joined the Sorceress. Besides, he deserves a second chance at life now that he's learned from his mistakes.' I had just scoffed and stormed out. But now I think back on it, he was right. You have learned from your mistakes and look at you now, you've changed so much."

Seifer blinked, trying process what she had said, feeling a flush creep up his neck at the knowing look in her eyes. She had confessed before that after the war she hated him for a while, but got over it, knowing she couldn't keep grudges forever. It just wasn't in her, so she reminded herself of all the good things Seifer had done for her and regained faith in second chances. Seifer had been truly surprised at how warmly most people greeted him at Garden, with the exception of Zell who had just glared and continued to ignore his existance. Which was fine, it wasn't like Seifer liked Zell either. Clearing his throat, Seifer gave Rinoa a raised brow when she gave him a look of suspicion.

"I hear you asked Selphie to snoop round McEvoy's room, why?" Rinoa had tilted her head to the side, a curious expression on her face.

"He's suspicious. I don't like him. He hit the roof when I mentioned that this kidnapping was an inside job. He shouted at me for accusing the Security team did it." Seifer answered with a chuckle. Rinoa frowned.

"So?"

"So. I never mentioned accusing the Security team for it, I just said I was looking through SeeD files." Rinoa scowled then, tapping a finger against her lips, looking thoughful but angry at the same time. She was suspicious too, now. She had always thought McEvoy was a nice guy, however it wasn't like him to make quick assumptions like, and the only reason he would was if he was hiding something.

She was about to open her mouth when both Fujin and Selphie burst into the room, both panting and looking serious. They both spoke at the same time.

"We have something!"

Squall gasped awake, feeling his heart pound in chest and tears well up in his eyes as he finally escaped from the dream he'd been forced to have. It had been days since he woke up in this place though it seemed like weeks. Ellone had been putting him in dreams of the past, of _his _past. Memories he had been very careful not to remember were being ripped from his subconscious and he was forced to relive them. What Ellone was looking for, he didn't know but he was sick of being rendered unconscious and waking up feeling weak and disorientated, finding a tray with a glass of water and porridge lying next to him. At least his Kidnapper wasn't making him starve, though it would be nice if she had put strawberry syrup in his porridge.

He sat up and glanced at the water, his kidnapper had reassured him that she had no need to drug him to get her answers but he still checked it before he drank a drop. After deeming the water fine to drink, he took a sip and ran his gloved hand over his face, memories swimming around in his mind, scrambling his thoughts. It was then the Intercom clicked on and Squall found himself listening to an arguement between his kidnappers.

_"He knows something, that wretched knight knows something!"_ It was a males voice this time and he sounded haggard, stressed. The female kidnapper just sighed.

_"How could he know something by looking through SeeD files? He's not that smart. Now calm down my dear, rest and dream of your family-"_

_"No! We need to do something! We need it now! We can't delay any longer or we will be caught!"_ Squall's brows furrowed as there was a pause, if he wasn't confused before, he was now. What were they looking for? And how did he come into this? Squall groaned quietly so not to alert his kidnappers that he was listening. Eventually the woman spoke.

_"It is not long now, his mind is a maze of sealed emotions but we are nearly there, a few more dreams and we'll get our answers. Have faith, our decoy will keep Almasy busy." _Decoy? What decoy? Squall felt his chest tighten in panic, wondering if Seifer really would be all right, but then his mind clicked back into Commander mode and he realised that his kidnappers knew of his dreams, did that mean they had Ellone too? Were they forcing her to use her powers to make him relive his past?

_"I do not trust her! She was one of those who defeated you! How do you know your magic won't falter on her!"_ The woman laughed, causing a cold shiver to go up Squall's spine and memories of a dark castle looming in the sky, chains surrounded by strewn dead White SeeD to fill his mind.

_"Because I'm not controling Quisty completely, just enhancing her dislike towards Almasy, slowing him down."_ Squall froze, feeling all colour to drain from his features. The way the woman spoke, it reminded him of how Ellone would speak, calling them by their nicknames. She also mentioned that she wasn't controlling Quistis, just making the womans hate stronger, but how? Was his kidnapper a Sorceress?

_'Face the truth, you know who this is.'_ His conscious whispered, but he ignored it. Trying to understand what his kidnappers were looking for with in his mind, however he came up empty.

_"...Fine, I'll trust your decision for now, Mistress. But any sign that Almasy is on to us, I'm getting us out of here. Your protection is my only concern."_

_"Of course, my knight. Come, rest and dream of your family."_ Squall heard the door close through the intercom and breathed out a sigh of relief, relaxing against the wall. He tried to get this new information in order, trying to understand it all but before he could even attempt to, the sound of ringing filled his ears and he was forced to abandon thinking for curling up into a ball, his head hurting beyond belief as he was forced to dream.

As he fell into darkness for what seemed like the millionth time, he failed to notice how his Griever pendant glowed dully around his neck...

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><p>AN: Ha, I left you with a cliffy in the middle of the story! What did Fu and Selph find out? Well, you'll just have to wait! :) And what are Kidnapper A&B looking for? I can't tell lol, and what's up with Squall's pendant? Ah, so many questions and still no answers lol. I think you know who kidnapper B is XD Anyway, tell me what you think by Reviewing! I'll send you more hugs if you do!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer; me now ownies! If I did, well lets just say Final Fantasy 8 would have ended a little differently ^_^

Warnings; DREAM! Squall tired. Kidnappers. Seifer being a know it all. Hints of the Weirdy Witch O_O And a teeny bit of bad language.

A/N; Hey, now before you attack me with gross tomatoes, I know it took a while and I'm sorry, but I had writers block and then the Avengers Assemble movie came out and I got distracted v_v Sorry. Anyway, here it is. I promise to start on chapter five ASAP!

A big hugs to those who reviewed! *hugs everyone*

Ps. Don't forget to review!

ENJOY!

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><p><em>"Sis? Sis where are you!" An eight year old Squall shouted over the rumble of the thunderstorm. It was late at night and the Orphanage was quiet, everyone was holed up in their rooms trying to outsleep the storm. Even Squall had been asleep at one point but woke up because of a loud clap of thunder, which then he noticed the porch light shining brightly. He had gotten out of bed to see what had activated the motion sensitive light and noticed Ellone's bedroom door wide open. Now he was panicking, he couldn't find her anywhere and the rain was getting heavier, the wind getting stronger and the thunder getting louder.<em>

_Walking into the kitchen, Squall sighed when he noticed nothing out of the ordinary; a few plates in the sink, Selphie's moogle toy on the side, Seifer's empty glass on the side with only a few drops of milk stubbornly sticking to the side, and Zell's squeaky hotdog toy that is actually meant for a dog but the blond refused to give it up sitting on the table. Everything was in place and there was no sign of Ellone. Feeling his shoulders slump, he wondered if he should wake Matron up and tell her, but the thought of having to be in the same room as Cid gave him goosebumps and quickly changed his mind._

_Turning on his feet, Squall gasped when he bumped into another person. Looking up, he felt his heart sink when he saw who it was._

_"What'cha doing Squally?"_

_"Seifer." Squall muttered, trying to slide past the ever alert blond and failing when the larger boy blocked his path._

_"Ellone's missing, huh." Seifer said, sounding unbothered by the fact that the older girl who was loved by everyone in the orphanage was indeed missing in the middle of a storm. Squall glared._

_"Yeah, do you know where she is?" Squall glared harder when Seifer shrugged, looking over the top of his head and seeming to be far away._

_"No, but the Lighthouse doors are open." With that Seifer walked to the fridge and opened the door, rummaging for something. Squall sent a glare at the blonds back before glancing out the window and squinting. And the blond was right, he could just make out the Lighthouse doors flapping in the wind. Giving Seifer's back a suspicious look, he quickly ran to his room and slipped his shoes and thick winter coat on. He made his way to the back door, rolling his eyes when he spotted Seifer pouring himself another glass of milk with a few cookies lying by the side of the glass._

_Stepping outside, Squall quickly planted his feet on the floor to stop himself from blowing away, the wind was strong and his coat did nothing to keep the chill away. Still, he was determind to find Ellone so he slowly trudged along the beach, gripping onto the rocks tightly. It was slow progress and by the time Squall reached the lighthouse, he was soaked and shivering with the cold. He could see a dull light from inside, probably caused by one of the lanterns Matron kept in the cupboard under the stairs. There was hushed voice but Squall was sure he could hear only one. Taking a breath to gather his courage, he quickly moved inside and looked round._

_Movement in the corner caught his eye and his eyes widened in surprise._

_"Sis...? What are you doing?"_

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><p>Squall gasped awake and had to blink several times to rid the haze from his vision. His mind was whirl of confusion and full of half formed thoughts. He slowly raised himself into a sitting position, ignoring how his stomach rolled with the movement and head throbbed with the almost never ending headache. Again there was a tray with water and a bowl of what looked like gloop waiting for him, but this time he ignored it favor of tugging at his pendant which over the past few dream sequences- he had stopped trying to count the days he had been held prisoner as he was constantly in and out of consciousness, and there was no clock in his cell-like room- had become restrictive, making him feel suffocated under its weight.<p>

He was exhuasted, though he was forced to dream he was not sleeping and it was beginning to take its toll on his body; purple bruises shadowed under his eyes, making his pale skin look sickly. His hair was matted from the amount of tossing he did while dreaming and just from the fact that he hadn't bathed in Hyne-knew how long. He was also worried about Seifer and the rest of Garden, since the arguement, the woman kidnapper had only switched on the intercom to nag him about where he had hid 'it'. He didn't even know what the Hell 'it' was but she seemed to think he did and nagged, moaned and interrogated him until she lost her temper shut off the intercom system. It was usually then he was forced back into the past, he was lucky he found time to eat but sleep was lost to him.

Yawning hard enough to make his jaw crack uncomfortably, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, praying he could have just a few minutes sleep. Though his luck was not on his side and he heard the tell-tale click of the intercom. He wasn't in the mood for this.

"Go away." The woman laughed, sounding amused.

_"We'll go away if you us where it is." _Squall huffed irritably, opening his eyes so he could glare in the direction of the voice.

"I don't even know what 'it' is!" He knew he sound indignant, but he really was too tired tokeep up his cool exterior. He just wanted to go home, have a shower and sleep. No, he just wanted to sleep period. The woman sighed.

_"Just tell me where my jewel is and you'll go free. I know it's in the Lighthouse, tell me where."_ Squall frowned, thinking back on his recent dream and shuddered when the image of a small Ellone curled in the corner, looking scared and confused. There was only one way the woman knew so much. Quickly shooting from his sitting position, Squall ignored the dizziness and shouted out to Ellone.

"Ellone? Is that you? What's going on-" he was cut off when the woman laughed, though this was empty of humour and full of contempt and loathing.

_"I'm sorry Squally, Ellone isn't here rght now but I'd gladly take a message."_ Squall snarled, knowing for sure that this was Ellone, but she was possessed. 'Ellone' cackled.

_"Now, now. Control that temper like a good SeeD."_

"I'll kill you." Squall hissed, pacing the confines of his cell like a restless lion. For the rest of that day he was left alone to plot this Sorceress's death in detail, no longer feeling exhuasted. It was also the day he was not forced to dream.

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><p>Seifer raised a brow at the two panting women in his office, both looking remotely horrified but also excited. It was infectious and soon Seifer began to feel excited too. Angelo, who had been sitting harmlessly in the corner by the door rose to his feet and growled at the two women for scaring him. Rinoa just looked plain confused.<p>

"What? You found something already?" It seemed impossible to find evdence so quick and it didn't help when Selphie and Fujin smirked smugly. The bouncy nunchaku user was first to speak thought at first it came out in a garbled mess and she was forced to repeat herself.

"...Like I said, McEvoy's room is just down right creepy. He has all these pictures of Edea and Adel on his dresser. It looked like some sort of shrine to them," Here Selphie shuddered and Seifer couldn't blame her. He felt like shuddering too. "Anyway, after some snooping round his room, I found Lionheart under his bed. I know for sure that Squall wouldn't just give his precious baby to someone like McEvoy. He'd die first." Selphie paled when she realised what she said and began to flail her arms about.

"Not that Squall's dead or anything..!" Fujin rolled her eye and smacked the panicking girl upside her head and decided to speak up.

"Hacking into Garden files wasn't hard-"

"But Balamb has the best security..." Seifer snickered at Rinoa's indignate cry and caused her to glare him. Again, Fujin just smirked and repeated herself.

"Hacking into _Galbadia_ Garden files wasn't hard; it turns out that the McEvoys have been silent supporters of the Sorceress's for a long time. Fredrick's father was one of Adel's top men until she was sealed in space, then he went off the grid before appearing as one of Edea's supporters. The man was killed in the battle against Balamb, it was around then that Fredrick suddenly appeared in Balamb's files." Fujin stopped to take a deep breath, not used to speaking so much but she doubted she could summerise this all up in one word. Well, she could.

"What of Fredrick's mother?"

"Mrs Annabel McEvoy died in the seige against Adel, ironically enough, she was on the resistance's side. She fought against her own husband. The rest of Fredrick's family; Aunts, Uncles, nephew, nieces, cousins all died either fighting or running when Adel tried to level Esthar to the ground." Fujin watched as everyone took in the information and knew what they were thinking, Fredrick was practically born to serve a Sorceress, though everyone knew that if he had been brought up by his mother instead of his father, things would obviously be different.

"Like I said, Fredrick falsefied the date on his entrance exam and personal SeeD sheet, though he was smart in picking such out of the way position like security. During the war, no one would noticed if there was suddenly one more SeeD, Ultimecia saw to that everyone was distracted. There were hints of Fredrick's involvement at Deiling, Dollet and the attack on Fisherman's Horizon but he made sure he was in the background, made himself unimportant."

Seifer huffed out a sigh. "Where is he now?" There was a brief pause while Fujin fished something out of her pocket, she passed a piece of paper to the blond and watched he realise it was a photo of the garages.

"Fredrick McEvoy left over an hour ago in a military vehicle, I have already contact local police stations to keep an eye out for such a vehicle. I also took the liberty of pulling all records of access granted to use such vehicles. All vehicles came back clean, except for one. That vehicle you are looking at was not comissioned to leave Garden and has been leaving Garden at regular intervals for the past month or so prior to the kidnapping. Fredrick is definitely our kidnapper."

"Any idea where it's going to?" Rinoa asked, eying Seifer curiously as the man had suddenly gone very pale, and very still. Almost like a statue; she feared was going to snap like he did when Quistis acused him of helping for the fame.

"No-"

"Lunatic Pandora."

"What?" Fujin, Selphie and Rinoa all looked at the blond as if he had lost it, there was no way he could know such a thing, and Rinoa voiced such a thought and jumped when Seifer slammed the picture down in front of her and pointed to a near camouflaged symbol on he side of the van. Rinoa rose a brow and stared angrily at Seifer.

"It's a symbol...?" Seifer laughed but it was cold.

"You should know it by now. It was painted all over Ultimecia's castle! And in Edea's chambers in the old Galbadia Garden. It was also all over Adel's prison. Hyne! The ugly bitch tried brand me with it! It's Ultimecia's symbol!"

"Are you saying Ultimecia's not dead?" Selphie squeaked, looking terrified at the prospect of the insane woman from the future not being dead after all. Rinoa snorted.

"Of course she's dead, Squall ended her. How else would the Time Compression correct itself." Fujin pinched the bridge of her nose to stop herself from smacking the brunette while Seifer just hung his head. The silverette recognised it as his way of controlling his temper when he was close to killing a lot of people. Though when he spoke, it sounded forced.

"Not necessarily. She could have fell into the Time Compression with you, which means she would have to find a host in this time to survive. It took most if not nearly all of her power to keep the Time Compression open enough for her to influence people in this time, it was only when Ellone used her powers to send back a part of her psyche to her own time that you were all able to travel to her crappy castle. When Squall weakened her to the point of near death, her grasp on the Time Compression would have crumbled and with no longer having Griever to boost her strength, she could have easily latched onto the nearest host to survive-"

"You mean me?"Rinoa pointed to herself, a scared expression on her face causing Seifer shook his head, grimacing.

"No, I mean Ellone." It was instantanious, Rinoa and Selphie erupted into shouts, looking furious at the idea that Seifer would say such a thing. He took the insults that were thrown his way with bleak interest. He knew this would happen, he had been slowly piecing it together when Fujin first started speaking, the fact that Fredrick had literally born into servitude and grew up with his loyal Sorceress worshiping father would mean the man would undoubtedly follow in his fathers footsteps to carry on the family tradition. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw Ultimecia's brand and there was only one place now that was secluded. Lunatic Pandora had been built as some sort of vessel for Adel, to which it came in handy for Ultimecia. It was left abandoned after the war by Laguna's orders; it would be the perfect place to hold a prisoner.

Eventually Selphie and Rinoa tired themselves out and both collasped against each other, they looked like they wanted desperately to carry on denying what Seifer said, but the more they allowed themselves to think about it, the more it seemed to fit. It was Rinoa who spoke, her voice quiet and defeated.

"So what do we do?" Seifer breathed deeply, not used to people looking to him for leadership and he really didn't like it either.

"We gather the group and alert Laguna to the situation, we ask him for back up and storm Lunatic Pandora."

"But how do you know Squall's there!" Selphie cried, her voice unsure. Seifer smiled grimly.

"Because that place has tons of latent magical energy and there is no question that Ultimecia is looking to regain her lost power," Seifer trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence, however the piercing glares from all three women gave him no choice. "And Squall knows where to find it."

Seifer groaned silently when the room erupted again, the two banshee's screeching like nails down a chalkboard into his ears as they fired question after question at him. He collasped into Squall's chair, comforted when the scent of gunpowder and strawberies hit his senses.

He was going to kill Squall when this was over for making him stick up with this.

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><p>AN: Yeah, Ultimecia's not dead. I feel sorry for Seifer, it must be hard having Selphie and Rinoa yelling down his ears. Oh well. Review and tell me what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I'm not repeating the disclaimer *pouts* I hate repeating myself.

Warnings: Laguna! (he deserves a warning) Slight mention of Quisty-bashing. Possessed Ellone. Weird Griever pendant.

A/N: Whoo! *wipes brow* I finally got it finished. I got a serious case of writers block, it was like my fingers refused to type, man! Anyway, I think I took long enough updating so I'll leave you to read and not listen to me blabber lol.

Enjoy!

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><p>"Oh, how lovely to see you again Seifer!"<p>

Seifer grit his teeth and grimaced as he found himself with an armful of Laguna, the brunette goofball hugging him, patting his head affectionately. They had just landed in Esthar after having a lengthy flight in Ragnarok when Seifer was surprised to see Laguna, Kiros and Ward waiting for them. Of course it was only a second later that Laguna gave out a cry and glomped him. Seifer patted the mans back awkwardly, trying not flinch when the older man hugged him tighter, as if he was going to disappear.

It was a tense few minutes where Seifer stood there like statue and let Laguna preen over him like a mother hen, and everyone else caught up with each other. Quistis was talking in hushed tones to Kiros and Zell. Ward was off to the side, a giggling Selphie thrown over his shoulder and a smiling Rinoa hanging off his arm just for the fun of it. Irvine was still on the ship, doing Hyne-knows what. Probably practising pick up lines knowing the cowboy. Fujin and Raijin had stayed at Balamb, the silver haired woman commenting on how they didn't want to be suffocated by the lovey dovey scene that was bound to happen when they found Squall; Seifer thought it was because the woman didn't like flying. Laguna tutted, brushing down Seifer coat.

"Really, how are you suppose to woo my son with your badass coat a mess?"

It took another few minutes for Seifer to stop choking on air. He glared at the slightly shorter man,trying his hardest not let flush creep up his neck. Though it must have showed on his face how embarrassed he was because Laguna just beamed cheerily at him. Still, Seifer thought it was best to deny whatever the brunette was saying, or thinking for that matter.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, President." Laguna frowned, his eyes going impossibly large and draped himself over Seifer. He blinked cutely, his bottom lip wobbling.

"You don't find my son attractive? And please call me Laguna." He added as an after thought. Seifer groaned internally, wishing he had stayed in Balamb himself. How could he get out of this situation without making it possibly worse? If he said that Squall was attractive, he would probably find himself married to the commander, but on the other hand, if he said that he didn't find Squall attractive (which certainly would be a lie) Laguna would no doubt go into hysterics. He was up a creak without a paddle. He weighed up his options and found being forced into marriage would be better than causing a scene here and now.

"Uh, Squall is very attractive," He started awkwardly, wincing when Laguna's eyes began to sparkle."But we're just good friends, that's all. There is nothing going on between us and there is definitely no wooing going on." He explained, trying to be tactful with what he was saying but it was lost on the President, it seems the man was still going over the fact that Seifer said Squall was good looking. Seifer knew he was doomed, and accepted it with grace by hanging his head and sighing deeply. He decided a change of subject was needed.

"So, when are we moving out?" It was amazing how fast Laguna's personality could change. The man was suddenly serious, his face set in a determind grimace as he began to herd everyone towards the Presidential Palace.

Seifer found himself in awe at the sheer _largeness_ of the building, the hallways could probably take up a quarter of Balamb Garden, the rooms were even bigger. The Estharans didn't do things by half it seemed. Seifer was still flabberghasted, if not more so when he stepped into Laguna's office. The place was dismally furnished, a desk placed in front a large stained glass window, a dozen chairs in front of that. A bookcase was placed in a far corner, and palmtree-like plant in the oppisite corner. A few pictures of Esthar landscapes hung from the wall but that was it.

Seifer now knew where Squall got his habit of poorly furnishing rooms. Everyone took a seat and stared seriously at Laguna. The man turned to Kiros and whispered something that had the dark skinned man leaving the room. Ward was a silent statue behind Laguna, his face void of any expression. _That's quite creepy_. Seifer thought to himself, and it was really creepy. Who wouldn't find a man of Ward's size standing there with a face as blank as a piece of paper, creepy?

It took an hour for the plans to be set on the liberation of Lunatic Pandora, an hour which was mostly full of Seifer and Quistis arguing like rabid dogs, and Laguna planning Hyne-knows what with Ward, though Seifer was sure he caught his name and Squalls several times which couldn't be good.

It took another ten minutes for Kiros to come back and say in his best dry tone that the troops are outside of Esthar and waiting for orders, and for them to get back to Ragnarok. Seifer sat in his chair, trying not to throttle Selphie as she sang away happily as she flew through the air. He could agree with Squall that the nunchaku user was a good pilot, but she was so Hyne-damned noisy. It didn't help that she had somehow accosted Laguna into joining in, the man as chipper as ever despite the growing battle looming upon them...

Seifer stared out the window and eyed the looming Lunatic Pandora with loathing as he felt his muscles tense at the pure feeling of _her_; an all consuming aura of hate, anger and murderous intent eminating from the building. If he had any doubt that he was wrong, that this Sorceress wasn't Ultimecia, he didn't now. And by how everyone tensed, he knew they could feel it too.

_I'm coming Squall..._

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><p>Squall paced in his cell, glancing every now and then at his glowing Griever pendant on the other side of the room. It had been no less than ten minutes since he had to wrestle the pendant from around his neck, his hands throbbing with pain at the burns he had recieved. He wondered if Ellone had done it, but then changed his mind. The possessed woman only seemed interested in her 'jewel'. Squall resisted the urge to scratch at his neck, the skin there itching after being chafed by hot metal. He sent another glare at it for good measure.<p>

Ellone had not come back to pester him, he hadn't suffered another dream either, but he wasn't taking his chances. It would be just his luck that he would probably be just dozing off when the woman would come back to nag at him like an old hag.

Squall couldn't help but snort at the thought and grinned internally to himself, but he frowned a minute later when his head throbbed, warning him that if he tried one more time to think, or do anything that required mental function it was going to come out as a migraine.

Slumping to the ground, Squall eyed his necklace closely as it started to sizzle on the ground, glowing brighter._ What in Hyne's name is wrong with it?_ Squall twirled his ring round his finger, trying to figure out when the pendant became magical, because when he brought it, it was just a plain necklace. The glowing grew brighter and heat got worse until Squall was tugging off his jacket, sweating. He had to cover his eyes in the end as the light eminating from the jewelry began to hurt. The scent of magic hung heavy in the air, choking Squall, and then as suddenly as it began, it stopped. The light was sucked back into the necklace as the temperature in the cell dropped down to normal. Squall gazed warily at his favourite pendant, noticing that the metal covered floor was scorched black, the burn spreading out in an odd fashion. He was about to get up to see if the thing had stopped acting out when the whole building shuddered, throwing Squall back to floor in an ungraceful heap.

He groaned out in pain as his shoulder throbbed, complaining about being abused; Squall ignored it though, he was more concerned about _why_ he had been thrown to floor in the first place. The cell was silent for a few seconds until the Intercom switched back on and Ellone snarled at him.

_"How did they find us, Squall?"_ Squall couldn't help but smirk, pride swelling his chest as he thought_ That's my Seifer._ Wait, when did he start thinking of the blond as his? Obviously sleep deprevation was getting to him.

_"Answer me, Squall!" _Ellone shouted through the intercom and Squall heard the faint of crashing, banging and other battle like sounds, though the most clear was Seifers cackling in the background. Squall decided to give the possessed Ellone some pity.

"Seifer isn't stupid, just really really hotheaded," Squall said, exasperation colouring his voice and he heard a noise of agreement come from the intercom. He had to admit, this surprised him a little. "He's also really suspicious of people, always has been. Always will be. He'd be a good SeeD if he just tried to _follow_ some orders." Squall muttered, not really caring if Ellone heard him or not. He didn't doubt that if Seifer just reigned himself in a little, the blond could be the best SeeD Balamb ever had. Galbadia couldn't bitch about the blond then, not unless they wanted to start a war.

Ellone snorted, her voice coming out in a leer. _"Ah, is that why the little kitten is attracted to Almasy?" _Squall sneered at the intercom, failing to hold back a flush. Ellone cackled, sounding unbothered by the noises of battle that was slowly getting closer.

_"When you dream, you sigh his name."_ Ellone said, oddly sounding wistful and maybe a little jealous. Squall blushed deeper, embarrassment making his skin crawl as he denied what the woman was saying. Ellone just cackled again before the intercom clicked off. Squall frowned, he hoped Seifer was going to be okay.

Lunatic Pandora shuddered again as the sound of explosion going off caused Squall to cover his ears. He quickly ran to the door, banging on it as hard as he could, hoping to get someones attention, though when the door opened and he saw who it was, he wished he had stayed silent...

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><p>AN: Yeah, it's a bit short, well to me it is. You probably know who's at the door, it can only be one of two people anyway *rolls eyes* Anyway, I love writing Laguna, he's so easy to write. Kiros is a bit harder and Ward's just easy peasy. Though I don't blame Seifer for being creeped out, _I'd_ be creeped out if I saw a guy like Ward just standing there, silently with a blank face *shudders* Please Review and tell me what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do NOT own FF8 because if I did the game would end different and Quistis would be locked away in Sorceress Memoria or somwhere equally forgotton and Squall would have kitty ears and tail XD

Warnings: Okay peeps, this is heading into the M area but not quite so it'll remain T rating and that's because theres a bit of violence, a tiny bit of bad language (it's in one sentence I think but still...) and implied suicide. If any of this upsets you press the back button now.. Besides that there's the Weirdy Witch, and some other minor things but I can't remember what they are XD

A/N:...*dodges people with pitch forkes.* I know...HEY I SAID I KNOW! Jeez, I took a long time updating but really, I'm sorry but I've been forced to suffer college :( They hate me I'm sure. Anyway this is Part one of Chapter six and it has a title too *gasps with shock!* So enjoy and tell me what you think, you can also moan at for being late too if you want :)

ENJOY!

**Chapter six part 1: Saving Squall.**

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><p>Landing on Lunatic Pandora wasn't particulary hard considering there was a massive hole in the side from the last time Ragnarok had crashed into it. As soon as Ragnarok's claws dug into the ground and the landing gear found purchase, everybody was rushing off the ship to be greeted by hordes of monsters that had called the building home. Instantly Selphie and Quistis was on the defense, casting various spells on the main attackers which were Seifer, Irvine, Laguna, Kiros and Ward as well as the odd offense spell. Zell had muttered that he would stay close to the girls just in case a monster slipped by them, which was rather level headed and smart of the blond.<p>

The rest of the Esthar army were being lead by Rinoa and Angelo was attacking the building at ground level, insuring that should McEvoy tried to flee he wouldn't get far. Seifer swiped Hyperion in a wide arc, hitting a couple of Turtapods and near slicing them in two. In the background were the near constant hum Laguna and Irvine's guns, while he barely heard Quistis and Selphie's shouts of spells. The gunfire stuttered to a halt while the shooters reloaded and Seifer had enough time to hear Selphie cry of "Flare!" and Quistis snarl "Micro Missile." and duck as several dozen missles sailed over him, hitting the large, charging horde of Wendigo's heading their way. He felt the heat of Flare, wincing at the dying howls of a few Behemoths. He got to his feet, blocking the sword of a Blitz. The soldier like monster growled, electricity humming rounds its form threateningly. Seifer smirk and stepped back, turning on his heels and into a crouch as he sliced at the Blitz's legs before it had chance to attack, knocking it on its back. He quickly finished the fiends life before running over to Kiros who had found himself surrounded by Vysage, Lefty and Righty.

He fired a couple of rounds into Righty, watching as the hand-shaped monster flapped around before slumping to the floor, Lefty soon following after a quick attack from Kiros's two blades. Vysage growled casting a powerful chain of Thundaga, Firaga and Haste, the first two spells hitting their mark and causing Seifer and Kiros to stumble back and the last allowed Vysage to recover faster and begin to summon more spells.

Seifer hissed as Curaga slid over his wounds, forcing them to heal as he got to his feet and prepared to attack Vysage. It seemed Kiros was the man target of the spells as it took him longer to recover even with the healing spells Selphie was throwing around like candy. Seifer felt his Overdrive kick in from the near fatal attack and took advantage of it, using Red Cross. Vysage didn't stand a chance.

He helped Kiros from the floor, handing the man his swords back. Kiros nodded his head in thanks, looking grim as a sealed door burst open to reveal twenty-odd Bombs ready and waiting.

"Aw, c'mon! Give us a break!"

"Seify! What do we do?" Selphie asked as the rest of the group gravitated towards the blond; Selphie and Quistis were panting, obviously feeling the strain. Laguna...looked excited, reloading his weapon with quick movements, Ward's Harpoon still had remnants of monsters insides on it and Seifer wrinkled his nose when the large man put the weapon on his shoulder. Zell's gloves were near unrecognisable and Seifer didn't even want to think what they smelt like. Irvine was checking his ammo, his lips silently moving as he counted the rounds, and Kiros was drinking a potion.

They were at a standstill.

"Can't we summon a GF?" Zell whispered, eying the Bombs with distaste. Quistis shook her head.

"No, we could hit each other as well as the monsters because of the cramped conditions." When she said cramped, Quistis meant that if the room didn't have a ceiling, the could summon away to their hearts content.

"Aw, wish we'd brought Tonberry King or Cactuar. They're smaller summons, perfect for these situations." Everyone hummed an agreement with Selphie's statement, all trying to figure a way out of this. Shiva would be so useful right now against the fire elemental fiends but, if they summoned the Ice Deity, they'd all most likely end up with frostbite. Seifer meanwhile narrowed his eyes, there was one more GF they had forgotten about; Odin. The GF was big, sure but could easily fit in this building. _But didn't I kill Odin?_ Seifer bit his lip, a lot of his memories were foggy in places and not foggy enough in others. One of the not so clear memories was when he fought Squall in...well, Lunatic Pandora. He could vaguely remember deflecting Odin's Zantetzuken and counter attacking, watching as Odin collasped, defeated.

"Seifer! What are you doing? We can't summon!" He was knocked out of his thoughts by Quistis's alarmed cry, blinking as symbols swirled around him and then shot towards the ceiling. The room darkened ominiously and everybody shivered and then gaped in shock as Odin descended from the ceiling, his horse neighing threatening at the Bombs while stomp two of its six hooves. Odin unsheathed his mighty sword and charged, galloping past the monsters, seemingly doing nothing. A subtle breeze swept past and then like dominos falling, the monster split in half one after the other until the pieces fell to the floor, adding to the mess already there. Odin's horse neighed once more, standing on it's two back legs before both Odin and his horse disappeared in a swirl of darkness.

The room was silent for a moment as everyone tried to wrap their heads around what just happened.

"...Well that was unexpected." Seifer said and then rolled his eyes as Quistis and Kiros glared at his obvious statement, Selphie and Laguna giggled while Zell and Irvine just sighed, Ward was just his normal apathetic self. The room was silent and peaceful, sounds of the battle down below a dull noise in the background. It seemed Ultimecia had been ready for their arrival and commandered a healthy horde of monsters, just like she did in her creepy, gothic, down right depressing castle in the future. The group took the chance to rest and heal, something Kiros accepted gratefully and collapsed to the floor in an exhuasted heap. Laguna was instantly at his side, mothering him, cracking jokes while Ward stood by as a silent guardian. Even after all these years their friendship was unbreakable.

"How...How did you summon Odin?" Seifer sighed and looked down at an inquisitve Quistis whose eyes were wide with wonder and a bit of suspiscion. He shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Lets just be grateful that he appeared when he did. We would have been screwed if all the Bombs went into Mass Destruction." The strawberry blond nodded and then without anything else to say she went and walked away to see what held Selphie's attention, and by the squeak of horror she let out and the little green creature running from the room, Seifer gathered it was a Tonberry.

"Alright guys, lets find Squall so I can dump you all on him and be rid of ya." Seifer muttered, frowning when everyone laughed, including Zell. _And they think I'm joking?_

"Now, now Almasy. We all know how much you love them really." Everyone froze and all breathed in a gasp of shock as they turned to the door to see Ellone standing there, a cruel, disgusted smirk curling her features. Seifer was the first to break from his frozen state and snarl angrily, unsheathing Hyperion quickly. This seemed to knock everyone into action and they whipped out their weapons and got into their battle stances. Ellone chuckled and waved her hand dismissively and then the room burst into a flurry of movement.

Seifer barely had chance to think before he was slammed into the ground by a powerful Flare; the others being tossed away with the blast. Seifer coughed, feeling the hot air burning his lungs but he strived to get up, however before he gained his feet tough, dragon scaled leather wrapped round his throat and brought him back to his knee's. His gaze flickered up to meet a smirking Quistis who held the handle of her whip tight. The room was silent, well there was some hissing and cracling from where Flare had caught a few monster corpses, but besides that, it was quiet.

Ellone walked up to the glaring blond, barely making a sound and smirking. She took hold of Seifers jaw, clicking her tongue when Irvine groaned, a few others also voicing that they were alive. Her brown eyes had now adopted an amber glow as she looked Seifer over, smiling cruelly at the various scratches and the long burn down the side of his neck from Flare; it seemed his trench coat got most of the damage.

"Now, I think it's time we had a chat, don't you?"

Seifer glared venomously in reply.

Squall took a step back from the door, trying his best to give the bastard in front of him hypothermia with his glare. McEvoy smirked, taking a step into the room, raising a brow when he noticed he scorched floor, but didn't ask what had caused it, he had more important things to do after all. His mistress had ordered him to get the prisoner and bring him to her while she delt with Seifer and his small army. But he knew by the look in Squall Leonhart's eyes that the man wouldn't come willingly.

"Now, _Commander_, be a good soldier and come along." Squall hissed back at him, stepping further and further away from the Knight, knowing his was in no shape to fight the man without a weapon, until he nearly tripped over his Griever pendant. He glanced down at the seemingly innocent object and bent down to get it, taking his focus of McEvoy for just a couple of seconds. And that was all McEvoy needed, he lunged forward to take Squall by the arm only find himself hissing in pain when an unbearable bright light surged through the room, the heat sizzling the air with pops and snaps.

McEvoy was forced to stumble back or risk getting third degree burns all over any available skin that wasn't covered by his uniform. He hit the wall with a thud, sucking in a hot breath of air when the metal wall threatened to burn his skin through his jacket. He took a slight step forward, well out of range from the piercing light that had engulfed Squall, but far enough from the wall.

The light fluctated and then bean to draw inwards and turn a soft, pale blue like clear sea ice, it got smaller and smaller until McEvoy saw the outline of his prisoner, however what was in Squall's hand caused the Knight to draw his sword with a quick flourish and snarl like a rabid animal.

Squall blinked, ignoring the bright, negative coloured spots dancing around his vision as he stared open mouth at the item in his hand. The familiar blue metal was warmed and puled brightly as if anticipating battle. From Lionheart's handle Squall's Griever pendant hung proudly, the necklace glinting with unknown magic in the flourescent light. Squall shivered as he felt his energy return with Lionheart in his hands, feeling more at ease than he had the past Hyne knows how many days.

He easily sidestepped McEvoy's attack, his feet dancing over the even blacker floor, he swiped his gunblade in a wide arc, catching McEvoy's blade with a clang. The Knight growled as he was forced to dodge another attack from Squall.

"How is this possible?" He shouted in anger, his lip curling over his teeth when Squall simply muttered a 'whatever' and drove Lionheart forward. McEvoy rolled to the side and swung his blade, catching Squall on the back of his calf though it was hardly anything to worry about, just a tiny scratch. Their blades met again and again as the two soldiers battled in the room, it seemed an even match to an outsider while the truth was McEvoy was not faring well; he had deep cuts along his chest and he was panting heavily like he had ran round the whole outer paramiter of Balamb Garden's lift in an attempt to beat the boy who does it every day without fail. Squall however was fine, a few scratches but nothing else, in fact he was barely breathing hard, an impassive mask on his face.

"Damn it!" McEvoy groaned as he collapsed to one knee, his blade resting harmlessly on the floor as he tried to gather his strength to keep on fighting. Before he could even tighten his grasp on his sword, he found the tip of Lionheart poised threateningly at his throat.

"Yeild. Or die." Squall's voice came out as an ice cold demand and for once McEvoy truly respected the power the young man held. He wasn't facing the teenage soldier, he was facing the SeeD Commander who had defeated Griever and mortally wounded his mistress with out blinking an eye. He threw his sword to the side, hands coming up in surrender, he would be foolish to think he could beat Squall now. He expected Squall to smirk, to silently gloat his victory but he was surprised to the lithe brunette grimace, annoyance and a small amount of pity flashing in those grey/blue eyes as he stepped back, lowering his gunblade to his side.

"Do I need to tell you to stay?" McEvoy was even more shocked at the question, although he answered quickly, shifting to make himself comfortable on the floor. He was going nowhere and it would be foolish for him to try anything.

"No. I am useless to my mistress now. I have failed her. I will wait here for my punishment." Squall faltered just slighty, instantly understanding the hidden meaning behind the older soldiers words and he felt a spark of emotion flitter in his chest but knew it was useless to intefere. He nodded in understanding and headed for the door after picking up his jacket and walked over he threshold. As he walked down the battered hallway, he tried not to think about what the man had subtly implied amongst his defeat; the man would not be alive when Squall sent someone to arrest him. As was the duty of a failed Sorceress Knight.

Squall slashed through a Wendigo, stepping over it's corpse and making his way to where he knew Ragnarok had landed. It was an boring repeat of the same actions; walk, slash, step over and start again. Though he let out a surprised grunt when at a crossroads in the hallway he was tackled into the wall by a blue blur. His head cracked painfully against the metal and those damned annoying sun spots danced before his vision before his gaze focused and he found himself staring into teary brown eyes as Rinoa clutched him tightly by the shoulders.

"Oh, Squall!" Rinoa dragged him into a hug and Squall patted her back in an attempt to sooth her, feeling extremely uncomfortable while doing so. This was why he mainly liked Seifer- he couldn't say he liked Seifer completely because the blond could be a right jackass at times and a little insensitive- atleast the blond understood that you could tough Squall when the brunette wanted you to touch him and now was not one of those times.

"Squall we was so worried! Seifer has been working day and night for you, even arguing with Quistis," Rinoa bit her lip and stepped back, her eyes trailing over Squall's form to see if he was injured, though there was a chance she was simply ogling him while she could. "That woman has been acting so strange, Squall-Squall! Where are you going!"

"Ultimecia is controling Quistis!" Squall barely glanced back at the rapidly paling Rinoa as he sprinted up a flight of stairs and up three floors, following the subtle breeze and scent of fresh air over the smoke and stench of death. He could hear Rinoa behind and also several sets of running feet following him, obviously reinforcements.

Squall burst into the massive antichamber that held Ragnarok, his heart stopping for a moment as sheer ice flowed through his veins at the image before him. Laguna and the others were spread out amongst the ruins, either on their side or on their front and looking as if they were sleeping peacefully. Quistis stood next Seifer, her whip wrapped round his neck and looking as if it was chaffing uncomfortably against the burn on the side of his neck, which was strained panfully at the angle Ellone was holding his jaw, her lips twisted in a small smirk as she turned slightly towards Squall. Squall growled as pure anger chased the fear of his friends and Seifer being hurt. Rinoa was at his side, her pinwheel ready to fly while Angelo skidded to a stop by her side, crouching into a attacking manner.

"Ultimecia! Let them go. Your...disagreement is with me." Squall held tightly onto his precious blade, the weapon glowing in answer to his anger. Ellone chuckled but did as her told and flicked her hand. The reaction was instant, Quistis eyes fluttered and she swayed dangerously on the spot, her whip loosening until it slid from Seifers shoulders who quickly turned on his knees and caught the strawberry blond in his arms as she lost consciousness. Squall spared them a glance before stepping forward until he was near touching distance from Ellone and stared fearlessly into amber glowing eyes.

"I know where your 'jewel' is.."

Ellone just grinned...

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><p>AN: Yeah, I noticed my writing style changed a little half way through but never mind. Again I apologise if anything is this chapters upset anybody :/ Either way let me know what you think and if you're confused just tell me and I'll do my best to explain. Big giant marshmellows in the shape of Griever to those who review! :)


	7. Chapter 7

Warnings; too many to mention, if any of this chapter offends people, than I apologise.

Disclaimer: I don't own, never will own it because I would not be able to handle the awesomeness of Final Fantasy 8.

A/N: Not much to say other than Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter six- part two: Ultimecia reborn.<strong>

Seifer looked between Squall and Ellone, watching as they stared intensely at each other. It was rather creepy to see, it was like one of those sappy love films where the two characters stared into each others eyes for a ridiculous amount of time before confessing their love for each other, except instead of love it would most likely undying hate for each other. Still, the situation was highly disturbing and the fact that Seifer even thought of a sappy film proved that he might've got head trauma from being smacked into the ground by Flare.

"So? Where is it, Squall?" Ellone purred, her eyes flashing wildly in glee at finally being able to restore herself to full power. Squall grimaced, his gaze flashing towards Seifer who still held Quistis in his arms. The blond seemed to realize this as well and none too gracefully dropped the woman before standing, he also wore a grim look on his face. Squall sighed internally and slowly raised Lionheart.

Ellone laughed, no, cackled like a maniac.

"Oh! How ironic that the blade that near killed me is made from my precious jewel," Ellone shook her head, flipping a stray lock of brown hair from her face. "When I take over this world, I must remember to pay Edea a visit-" Ellone was interrupted by a snarl and turned towards the blond ex-knight, a humourous smile on her face. She raised a hand to her mouth and giggled.

"Oh, did I hit a sore spot?" Before Squall could even think of telling Seifer not rise to the bait, the blond had picked Hyperion from the floor and charged only to be sent flying back from another Flare. Though instead of landing awkwardly onto rubble he was saved by a protect that Rinoa had quickly casted to save the blond from a broken back.

"Ultimecia, do you want it or not?" Squall hissed, not liking the fact that he was about to give up Lionheart to the crazy bitch. Somewhere in his mind though, something whispered that this was part of the plan and the insane Sorceress needed to take the blade for it to work. Ellone turned back to him and smiled warmly, looking almost sane... Almost. The slight disgusting twist of her lips told all that this woman was highly unstable. The Sorceress raised her hand and gently, lovingly took the hilt of Lionheart and brought the blade to her chest, hugging it like a child would hug it's favourite teddy bear. The wistful look covering face made Squall want to gag. He stepped away from the woman as Lionheart pulsed an eerie red and he gasped in pain when his Griever pendant began to sizzle once again. He tried to drop the necklace but it was like some invisible force had glued it to his hand.

Ellone cackled with manic glee as her powers returned; Ellone's body began to warp and change, once soft brown hair became glossy and black, falling to her lower back in soft, loose curls while little horns peeked from atop her head. The long white skirt and blue shirt darkened and morphed into a tight, curve hugging black dress that split up the front to mid thigh. Wings of midnight black sprouted from her back, though these were smaller than her other ones, only spanning half the size of her old ones. She became slightly taller and her features sharpened a little but she still looked young, almost near the same age as Quistis. When the transformation finished, she weilded Lionheart proudly in her hand, but even the blade had changed a little. It was slimmer than the original and instead of a pale blue blade, it was crimson, mimicking the colour of blood. She sighed in relief and flicked another lock of hair out of her face. Her now red eyes glittering with youth.

"Oh how good it is to be young again," She said as she took in her younger form. "Hmm?" She looked down at Squall who amidst the transformation, fallen to one knee, clutching his burning hand to his chest and the pendant glowed and pulsed with a dull white light. She stared into pained blue eyes with something akin to confusion. Ultimecia took a step closer, intrigued by what was happening but was caught by surprise when she found herself blinking at a growling border collie who was crouched in front of Squall protectively. She was about to flick the animal away when the sound of a gun cocking near her skull alerted her that the rest of the team was no longer unconscious.

"Don't even think about it, darlin'"Came the drawled warning from the cowboy and Ultimecia tilted her head in respect and took a step back, wanting to humour the heroes of Gaia for a little while. Where as before she would have simply casted multiple spells, she was now reverted to before she had become completely insane. Ah, the wonders of youth. Nevertheless, just because she had some sanity didn't mean she wasn't ready to kill them all without regret or mercy. Besides, she was curious as to what was going on with Squall.

Rinoa ran to Squall's side and gasped at the sheer heat coming from the necklace clutched in Squall's hand. She bravely casted Shell on her hands before grabbing the glowing item and pulling, though she let out a shriek when the heat intensified and scalded her hands. She pulled her burnt hands away and quickly casted Curaga, sniffing as she watched her blistering hands healed slowly. She looked back at Squall who besides being slowly cooked alive by the oppressive heat didn't have any sign of injury on him, and she decided that this whole thing was fishy. She could sense the magical energy rolling off of the Griever pendant and it vaguely reminded her of the magic used for summonings.

"Are you okay, Rin?" Said woman jumped and looked up at Seifer who was watching a frowning Ultimecia closely, she nodded and gazed back at Squall; the man's eyes were closed and a few beads of sweat littered his forehead and he looked almost pained but she knew that wasn't the case.

"Any idea what is happening?" Seifer asked as he helped Rinoa back on her feet. The Sorceress shook her head.

"No, I don't get it. It feels as if he's summoning something, but then again it feels as if something is trying to force itself from the ether world, though it's as if it's stuck and can't answer the call."

"So in other words, some GF is forcing Squall summon it, but it isn't getting through?" Seifer asked, frowning when Rinoa nodded her head. The moment was interrupted when Ultimecia let out a deafening shriek of anger and sent Zell, Irvine and Ward flying in different directions. The two jumped slightly, feeling stupid for forgetting that they had an homicidal Sorceress in the same room as them as Ultimecia growled, her hands clenching into fists as a sneer curled her top lip. Magic swirled round the room and everyone who were still on thier feet took an fearful step back, though Ultimecia only had eyes for Squall.

She took several steps forward, casting a barrier between Seifer and her as the blond charged forward to protect Squall from her. She took Squall by the collar and pulled him to his feet, hissing in his face.

"Traitor!"

"What the hell are you going on about? Get away from him!" Seifer ordered from behind the barrier, pressing against it to see if he could cause it to collapse. It didn't budge and Ultimecia just glanced at him boredly, lifting one hand to flick him away when a searing heat wrapped round her wrist and she let out a cry of pain as she met Squall's dark gaze.

"Don't even think about it." Squall said, his hand pressing the burning pendant harder against Ultimecia's skin. The heat intensified and everyone stood in shock as glowing orbs of magic swirled round their forms before shooting up into the ceiling, which turned black before warping out of existance, taking all floor above them with it. The opressive heat spread outwards, causing a haze to cloud the room. It was like being in the desert after escaping D-District all over again; it was hot, with little oxygen and you felt as if you were about to pass out.

There was a deafening roar and nearly everyone jaws dropped in awe and horror as Griver descended from the sky, landing in the room with a loud rumble. Griever growled as he eyed the large group of people before stopping at Ultimecia who looked insanely happy. She sighed wistfully and with a flick of her hand, sent Squall flying backwards into the wall.

"Griever! My GF." she cooed sweetly like a child who had just found it's favourite pet and Griever rumbled again, lowing its great muzzle to floor. Ultimecia's eyes softened as she stepped closer, stretching out her hand to pet the GF, however she flinched and stumbled back when Griever snapped for her hand with its jaws.

**"How dare you harm my master!"**Griever roared, stomping forward and causing the building to shake with its footsteps. For the first time Ultimecia looked truly lost as she stared up at the hulking GF.

"M-master? But I'm your Mistress!" She cried at Griever before something must have clicked in her mind because her gaze swung round towards Squall who was slowly beginning to stand, using the wall he was thrown into as a support. She snarled and flicked her fingers in an intrcate pattern but before she could finish, there was a deafening roar from Griever and a large paw swiped for the Sorceress, just catching the ends of her dress as she dodged the attack. Griever stood in front of Squall protectively, its face twisted in a viscous snarl as it glared at its former Mistress.

The last of Ultimecia's sanity snapped.

She laughed manically, shaking her head wildly in disbelief. Magic swirled round her form in furious pulses, the room continualy dropped in temperature before rising to unbearable level and repeating. Seifer growled as the barrier between him and Squall grew outwards, forcing him to step back or be forced back so he did the only thing he could do. He looked towards Griever.

"Griever! Break this damned Barrier so we can get to Squall!" The giant Lion looked down at him and for a moment Seifer feared the beast would crush him but Griever's gaze flicked to Squall who looked truly aweful and the GF made up its mind. Griever slammed its giant paw onto the barrier which was no match for the legendary GF and crumbled to pieces. Ultimecia barely noticed, far too lost within her own insanity realise the barrier was gone. Instantly there was a flurry of movement and magic. Besides Griever, Shiva appeared in her cold glory, frigid fury shining behind her pale blue eyes, and Carbuncle leapt from the ground, its ruby glowing brightly as casted protective shields around the whole party before mewing cutely and disappearing in a flourish. Rinoa, Seifer and Laguna were at Squall's side quickly, the Sorceress asting healing spell after healing spell while Laguna gently pursuaded Squall to drink X-Potions to help the healing along. Quistis was still unconscious but it seemed Zell had taken the time to find her and bring her closer to the group. Kiros, Ward, Selphie and Irvine stood next to the two summons, weapons at the ready.

Squall groaned in annoyance and pushed Laguna's hand away, feeling his stomach roll at the thought of another potion. "I don't need that. I'm fine. We need to figure out how to get Lionheart back and defeat Ultimecia for good."

"But Squall-"

"Squall's right, Laguna. There isn't any time, Ultimecia is either going to suffocate us with her magic or tear us limb by limb before doing the same to the world," Seifer said, his voice strangely soft as he stared at the paler than usual brunette."and we can't let that happen." Laguna stood up angrily and opened his mouth when Rinoa sighed wearily and leaned away from Squall.

"Seifer's right. This is war, Laguna. If Squall says he's alright, then he's fine." Laguna still looked conflicted, like any father should but nodded his head with a grimace and stepped back, allowing Seifer to haul Squall to his feet. Squall swayed for a moment before he centred himself and became Commander again, his stoic of all emotion as took in the situation. Ultimecia was flooding the room with magic powerful enough to warp the metal walls of Lunatic Pandora, if it wasn't for Carbuncle's shields then he was sure they would be flat on their backs.

He took a step forward, ready to help in the battle when a paw stopped his progress. Griever rumbled and spoke** "It is not safe for you, master. Ultimeca is in her prime in this form."**

Squall glared at the beast, he couldn't deny that Griever was right, he could feel the power the woman emitted and it frightened him slightly. When they had fought her in the future, Ultimecia had been older, and while knowledge came with age, her body had grown too weak for her powers hence why she relied on merging with Griever to survive.

"Why are you helping me? Ultimecia was the one you bonded with, junctioned with. Why have you junctioned yourself to me?" It was a little confusing as to why the legendary GF had sealed itself in his pendant. Griever was silent for a moment before lowering his muzzle closer to Squall to give the brunette a little affectionate nudge that nearly caused Squall to fall over if he hadn't planted his feet firmly on the floor.

**"Every GF has a choice whether to stay bonded to a person or not. I had grown tired of her thoughts of revenge and hatred towards SeeD. When you landed the near fatal blow with Lionheart, her magic on me faltered and so I found a new host to be bonded to. I sealed myself within your necklace, but I could not summon myself until now because that blasted woman was calling me also and until I could destroy her seal completely I could not come to you."** Squall blinked, and then blinked again as his mind digested the information. He carefully raised a hand and patted Griever who purred.

"Oh...Well. Thanks, I suppose. How did I get Lionheart?" Griever stood up to full height and oddly looked sheepish.

**"As we fell into the time compression, my power fluctated in unstability being that close to the ether world, so I had no choice but seal part of myself in another object and Lionheart was the nearest object. As that foul human came to kill you, I simply summoned that part of myself to me."**

"And Lionheart came with. For a GF you're oddly cunning." Griever rumbled under the praise and turned back towards Ultimecia who had began to warp herself into something else entirely. She no longer looked human; her body had elongated, her horns had grown curled until they touched the floor, her wings had grown and two smaller pairs had spouted from her back. As her body had warped, her dress had simply shredded and her body was covered in a fine sheen of feathers, on what skin was flesh black marking trailed up her body like vines. Her eyes glowed brightly with hate as she simply hovered over the ground.

Everyone stared in horror at her form and before they could blink their shields came under attack from magic spells. Meltdowns and Ultima's were thrown and the two strongest magic users had little chance to strengthen the shields before the next wave happened. Shiva hissed in anger and retaliated, sending Blizzaga after Blizzaga at the Sorceress who barely flinched from the frightful cold. Griever had chosen defense and wrapped its tail around Squall. Seifer ordered Zell to keep Quistis out of harms way while he and everyone else charged for Ultimecia, barely getting any closer before having to stop from the spells.

Squall struggled to free himself from Grievers tail before an idea struck him.

"Griever, summon Lionheart," At Griever dubious look, Squall sighed."They can't get any closer to Ultimecia, not while she's going spell happy. So bring her to us, her grip On Lionheart is tight enough." This seemed to convince the GF and Griever concentrated, the same oppressive heat filled the room before there was a flash of light and Ultimecia was suddenly amongst them. She blinked in surprise before suddenly throwing more spells at them.

The momentary shock was enough and while Griever swept its tail towards Ultimecia to push her away from Squall, the brunette grabbed the hilt of Lionheart and _yanked_. The blade came free of Ultimecia's grip as the woman was too distracted and too busy to notice. Once Lionheart was back in Squall's hands, the blade changed once again and glowed pale blue.

"Seifer! No!" Squall's gaze instantly shot up towards the battle at Rinoa's shout and he was suddenly struck with deja vu. Magic swirled round Ultimecia and gathered at her finger tips and she raised her arm to the sky. Spears made of unatural black ice formed and there was a smirk on her face.

"Goodbye Almasy."In a flash her arm dropped and the spears hurtled towards the blond who had stopped in his attack and raised Hyperion to defend himself. There was a sickening crunch and the room fell silent. Squall's eyes widened and his heart stopped.

"No!"

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><p>AN: I'm so evil XD So what will happen now? This chapter turned out differently than I planned, so I hope it's okay. Tell me what you think and Review!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Does Seifer grab Squall at the end and kiss him senseless? Does Quistis mysteriosly disappear with Rinoa? Does Selphie turn Trabia in a battle fortress? Does Griever actually turn to the good side at the last moment and join Squall and the others and the end to defeat the weirdy witch? Is there a little Tonberry called Kobo in the game and is Seifers pet? No? Well then it is obvious I do not own Final Fantasy 8. *sulks*

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><p>Warnings: Okay there is not all that graphic battle scenes of blood and gore and stuff but it is mentioned so if this offends you I am sorry. There is no Zell bashing, Quistis bashing or Rinoa bashing... I don't think there is anyway. There is a mildly freaked out Squall but it's not that bad really. Oh and Seifer getting hurt. Them are the only things I can think to warn you about...Oh and there might be a bit if bad lanuage but nothing too...crude or and I uploaded this on my phone so i apologise if the chapter is a bit of a mess :

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><p>AN:...Please please please please please forgive meeeeeeeeeeee *gets down on knees* I know it's been ages but I didn't forget honest, I just got really really busy with starting my apprenticeship and all, and then my sister decided to move to Birmingham and then everything consisted of waking up at ten to six, going to work, do work, come home and then go to sleep and my weekends consisted of sleep, wake up have some food and then sleep some more. But I am really sorry, so I'll shut up now and give the normal "Read and review please." and leave you to it.. *hides under rock and goes to sleep* ENJOYIES!

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><p>= Time in Lunatic Pandora stood still as everyone watched in horror as spears of black, cursed ice hit their intended target. Seifer let out a piercing scream as the cursed ice instantly evaporated and began to poison the bleeding wounds. He collasped to the floor, writhing in agony as his wounds burned and the poison spread through his body. Ultimecia cackled in gleeful joy as her once loyal dog slowly died in front of her. At Ultimecia laugh, Squall snapped into action and without much thought other than getting to Seifer, he quickly fired off a powerful Meltdown while sending a signal to Griever which clearly stated to snap the others out of their shock and to get moving. The meltdown did its job at distracting Ultimecia, who wasn't expecting it, as Squall ran towards the fallen gunblader, a Esuna spell already being casted to combat the poisonous curse. He distantly heard Griever roar loudly that by the shocked gasps, brought everyone else from their stupor. Rinoa was the first to come back to herself and was quickly at Squall's side, casting off every healing spell she knew and frowning as every one did little to help Seifer. Zell, Irvine,Quistis, Selphie, Laguna, Kiros, Ward and Shiva decided to put their full force on Ultimecia, distracting the insane witch from Squall and Rinoa and the Sorceress stumbled under their sudden onslought. "Rinoa, Esuna isn't working to rid him of the poison!" Squall almost cried in desperation, his heart pounding against his chest and was beginning to break out in a cold sweat. Rinoa winced, feeling just a little helpless as Squall fell apart before her and that none of her spells were working. She was meant to be a Sorceress damn it! Seifer let out another cry of pain as his wounds began to fester omniously and spread, causing blackish blood to pool round him. Rinoa suddenly had an idea and turned towards the battle, caling for the fastest person she knew. "Selphie! I need Holy Water! Now!" The bouncy brunette nodded while swinging her nunchaku towards Ultimecia who did a graceful twirl to miss the weapon, Selphie then spun on her heels and set off towards Ragnarok. Rinoa turned back to the shocked Squall and the dying Seifer, feeling her own heart twinge at the sight of Squall who had gone grey at the sight of the blond. Not thinking twice about the decision, he summoned the powerful healing spell she knew. "Curaja!" A bright green light shot forth from her hands and slammed into Seifers chest, momentarily pinning him to the ground as it worked it's way through his body. When the spell touched the cursed wounds the spell sizzled loudly and began to fluctate between green and red. It went like that for a few seconds until it flickered green and stayed that colour. Seifers wounds didn't heal however the bleeding had stopped for the meantime. "We need to get him to Sorceress Memoriam. The stasis chamber there could keep him alive until we cure him of Curse." Rinoa said, trying to keep her voice even. A worried and possibly scared Squall was a volatile Squall. One wrong thing said and Squall could flip. She gazed at Squall with a solomn sounding sigh when he didn't reply, watching as emotions flickered in Squall's darkened gaze; there was worry, sadness, anger, fear and a few others she knew Squall didn't understand. She slid her gaze from Squall and Seifer and to the battle instead, Laguna was ducking and diving all over the place, dodging spells like a professional while shouting orders to the others who followed without hesitation, though Irvine and Quistis looked like they would rather have Squall giving the orders instead. There was a patter of light feet behind her and she turned to see Selphie skipping towards them with a bottle of Holy Water in her hand. She gave the nunchaku user a shaky smile which Selphie returned with a grimace and a sad look at the back of Squall's head as if the copper brunette could read his thoughts. She silently handed Rinoa the Holy Water. "I hope it works-" "Of course it'll work!" Both women jumped and stared at Squall with wide eyes who gave them the frostiest glare they had ever recieved. Rinoa went to open her mouth but then thought better of it and handed him the bottle of Holy Water instead. Squall sent one last narrowed eyed glare before he turned to Seifer, clutching the bottle tightly in his hand. He gently lifted the blonds head, resting it in the crook of his left elbow, he pulled the stopper out with his teeth and used his hand, left, to open the blonds mouth so he could pour the Holy Water into Seifer. He quickly threw the bottle and used his hand to rub Seifer throat so he wouldn't choke. The light green aura shimmered slightly and slowly began to have a gold glitter to it. Rinoa breathed a sigh of relief but the tightness remained around her heart; while Seifer was looking better, the wounds were still there and she had no doubt that the Curse was as well. Selphie instantly picked up on her quietness. "Well?" She demanded, her green eyes flickering between them and the battle. Rinoa sighed again. "The Holy Water has soothed the effects of Curse but hasn't got rid of it completely. Seifer is still Cursed and probably still poisoned as well. The only good thing is that the Holy Water has moulded itself with Curaja." Rinoa explained, rubbing a hand down her face and feeling a headache coming on. This was all so wrong. "For now he'll be okay but he'll need regular doses of Holy Water until we reach-"Rinoa stopped suddenly, a idea forming in her mind. "-Esthar." "Esthar? I thought we was taking him to Sorceress Memoriam?" Selphie questioned, ignoring Rinoa's glare. Rinoa opened her mouth to explain when she noticed Squall moving; he carefully sat Seifer up, taking the brunt of Seifer dead weight and slowly wrapping the blonds arm round his shoulders. Rinoa went to ask him what he was doing but one look at Squall's face changed her mind and kept her quiet. Selphie gasped suddenly and she ran round to Seifer's other side. "We're taking him to the Ragnarok, right?" She took Seifers other arm and together her and Squall lifted Seifer until all three were standing. Squall nodded and then his eyes became solid shards of stormy ice. He looked down at Rinoa. "Rinoa, help the others stop Ultimecia and tell Laguna to do what he did last time to stop Adel-" "But-" "and then evacuate everyone to Esthar, we'll meet you there." Squall ordered, ignoring Rinoa's protests and her frown, he also ignored the loud cry that was heard from Laguna in the background, obviously displeased that Squall hadn't called him 'dad'. Rinoa nodded, knowing she had no choice but to follow Squall's orders and ran off towards the battle, summoning powerful magic in an attempt to distract herself from the tight feeling in her chest. Squall glanced over at Griever, trying not to feel the weight in the legendary beast's gaze; he couldn't take the look of understanding and pity at the moment. Squall and Selphie slowly made the trek to Ragnarok, slow being the opperative word as Ultimecia decided to send a horde of monsters after them when she noticed them moving towards the spaceship. Squall let Selphie deal with the monsters, still slightly amazed at Selphie's powerful move The End and how it wipe all the monsters out in a single hit. He was sure that Selphie's magic could rival a sorceress's. Squall grunted when Selphie came skipping back over and helped him take Seifers weight, smiling cheerily as if she hadn't just wiped out a horde of enraged Wendigos. "Alright, lets get this show on the road!" Squall couldn't agree more as he forced himself to walk faster to the ship, knowing Seifer didn't have long left. - Rinoa growled and sent a large Firaga towards the insane woman, distracting her attention from Laguna who took the chance to summon Holy, the balls of pure white magic causing Ultimeccia to shriek in agony and her feathers began to sizzle and burn away until they were mottled and gnarly looking. Rinoa was not blind to the fact that Holy had such a strong affect on Ultimecia and a plan began to form quickly in her mind. She quickly sent out a series of hand signals telling the others to use Holy spells or in Irvines case bullets. They all gave tiny nods that were hardly noticable and quickly changed tatics. Irvine quickly threw a pak of standard bullets that he kept on him just in case he happened to lose Exeter and had to use a sttandard fire arm like Laguna used. Rinoa, Quistis and Zell quickly began sending a barrage of Holy spells at Ultimecia who stumbled back and threw up every defense spell she could use. However it was all for naught and she hissed like an animal as she felt the burning stings of Holy reacting to her feathers and even her skin. Her hands trembled under the strain of magic and as body began to weaken under the onslought from another sorceress and SeeDs. Rinoa panted as she felt the tiredness that came with summoning such powerful spells over and over again. She remembered the first time they had faced Ultimecia and she realised that though they had been inexperienced, Ultimecia had never been this strong, but then Ultimecia had been years older where as now she had been reverted back to her younger self. "Keep fighting! She's beginning to weaken!" Laguna yelled over the roar of the battle. "Are you sure?" Quistis cried back sounding unsure as she barely dodged a Thundaga sent her way. Laguna flashed her a grin, ducking from a stray spell and firing a couple of rounds the crazy witch. "Of course! Adel was a stubborn cow but even she had to call quits eventually!" Quistis glared at the man, not finding the mans laid back attitude amusing in the least but used the anger it caused to fuel a particulary nasty round of Micro Missile. "Quisty you can glare and murder Laguna later! But right now we need to knock this bitch out so we can take her to Sorceress Memoriam and get Ellone back!"Zell shouted, sounding annoyed as everyone momentarily gaped at him. The boxing blond had been quiet throughout the whole affair but now he looked ready to Dolphin Kick their heads. It took no longer than a second for them to focus back into the battle and they all put their strength into stopping Ultimecia. This was no longer Ellone but they couldn't give up on the woman who had been their Sis once upon a time. The woman had always been kind hearted and cared for them all, they were not about to give up if there was a way to save her. With a deathly shriek Ultimecia finally stumbled, her legs unable to hold her weight any longer and her knees buckled. Everyone didn't waste another second, all gathering the last of their strength and band together to summon the most powerful Sleep spell they could. With a cry Ultimecia crumpled to the ground... ==<p>

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><p>AN: *Hides behind rock* Um is it safe to come out? *dodges flying tomato* okay I guess not. But I am really really sorry it took me so long to update, besides College hounding me and then starting my apprenticeship, I really had very little time to write. Anyway! Seifer isn't dead so you can stop giving me evils. I have the next Chapter mostly wrote on paper so I'll start typing up as soon as I can... I realise that Griever and Shiva didn't get much mention but they were there, just imagine them fighting off monsters or something *rubs neck* And don't worry Seifer and Squall will get together soon I promise. Remember to review even it is to moan at me for my poor updating XD Cookies to you all *throws cookies*


	9. Chapter 9

Warnings: Um not a lot really, maybe a little Quistis bashing and maybe a bit Rinoa bashing but not a lot else. Oh and Laguna, naturally.

Disclaimer: I give up on these now, I will never and I mean never own the awesomeness that is FF8, they will forever belong to Square Enix- formally Squaresoft-

A/N: I'm not gonna chat or spew excuses (though I have a lot of them) Just remember to R&R and I'll be happy. Oh by the way I have based the GF kind of like Aeon/Fayth from FF10.

ENJOYIES!

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><p>Rinoa sighed tiredly she climbed into the back of a standard issue Esthar van; Ultimecia was on her way to Sorceress Memorial so the scientist could find a way to separate the crazed Sorceress from Ellone's body while keeping Ellone alive in the process. Luckily there wasn't any major injuries, a few soldiers would be out of commission for a few weeks but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a Cure and a good nights rest.<p>

She flopped into her seat and numbly clipped her seat belt, relaxing only when the vehicle started moving, she would hopefully be meeting up with Squall in Esthar and she prayed that Seifer would be alive. The blond hadn't been looking so good the last time she saw him and even though he was a royal pain in the ass, she didn't think she could forgive herself if he died.

"Rinoa, we'll be in Esthar in under an hour." Laguna's voice crackled over the vehicle intercom, he sounded tired and worn but she couldn't blame him, she was shattered and she could possibly sleep until next week but there was still stuff to do. The monsters Ultimecia had been spawning was still doing so, Lunatic Pandora was now completely overrun and they would be organising a task force to try and cull their numbers for the safety of Esthar.

"Okay, can you send a message ahead for your administrators to get in touch with delegates from Glabadia and Trabia? We're more than likely going to need more men to handle the monsters and having back up medics can't hurt either."

"I'll send a message through now... Rinoa, Squall will look after Seifer, so put them out of your mind and just focus on the rest of your team." Laguna said, sounding like a stern father but he was just as worried as everyone else. She nodded and then sighed as realised that the man couldn't see her and she had just probably looked stupid to everyone else in the vehicle.

"Will do, see in Esthar." She ended the communication before Laguna could start rambling about some inane topic and slouched in her seat, willing herself to send a small cure towards an injured soldier who was bravely staying quiet about his wounds. The soldier sent a slight tilt of his her way and she smiled back before looking out the window. Esthar desert was blurring past as the driver put his foot down, obviously wanting to be far away from the ruins of Lunatic Pandora.

She hoped Squall was okay but then mentally slapped herself for thinking about the man; Laguna was right, Squall would be fine and he would want her to focus on the task ahead and to see that everyone was healed and ready for the next battle.

Still she prayed to Hyne that nothing bad happened.

Squall was glaring.

He knew he was because the poor Estharian guard outside Doctor Odine Labratory looked like he was about to wet himself or faint one of the two, but then again it could also be that Selphie was shaking the guard half to death threatening to The End him if he didn't open the door. With a sigh, Squall cleared his throat attracting the two's attention.

"Look, either you let us in and get Odine or perhaps you can explain why the guy who just saved everyone and rescued me from a crazy kidnapper died outside this door." Squall said with most bored tone he could muster and watched with a small amount of glee as the guard paled to deathly shade and began stuttering out apologies while he entered the code to the door.

The door opened with a swish and Squall dragged Seifer's dead weight inside while Selphie gave the guard a pat on the back.

"Oh my, vat have ve here?" Doctor Odine asked, shuffling into the room with a surprised look on his face. It was obvious that the man hadn't been expecting anyone and definitely not them, still Squall glared hating that everyone was asking twenty questions. Selphie glomped the guy with a cheer to which Doctor Odine possibly looked more freaked out than the guard did. Squall sighed again and dropped Seifers body over to a free couch.

"Seifer was hit with cursed Ice, we've tried Holy Water but all it's done is slow the curse down. We need your help." Squall explained, leaving out that it was Sorceress Ultimecia who did it, the mad Doctor didn't need to know that part.

"Oh dear, I vill do vat I can to save him. I'll just get my equipment." Doctor said with a frown, and shuffled from the room. Selphie crept closer to Seifer and poked his arm before slumping and casting Squall a worried look. Of course she had reason to worry, Seifer was at deaths door and Squall was looking ready to drop himself or most probably go Renzenzuken on some unfortunate monster. Squall had been quiet throughout the trip back to Esthar, keeping two fingers on Seifer's pulse at all times just incase the man took a turn for the worse while they were travelling. He had also carried the injured man from the Airdock to Doctor Odine's Labratory which was pretty far and he hadn't once mentioned feeling overwhelmed with Seifers weight or tired for that matter. How much had Squall slept since he was kidnapped? When was the last time Squall ate? Now that she finally had a moment to look at the Commander, he was looking pretty thin and gaunt. She bit her lip but kept quiet, now was not the time to nag Squall about his health.

Another door swished open and Doctor Odine and several of his assistants came rushing out with a hoverbed.

"Put him on ze bed and get ze theater ready just in case! And get zese men some coffee!" Doctor Odine ordered and all the assistants rushed to comply, two of them ran from the room towards what must have been the kitchen and the five slowly maneuvered Seifer onto the hoverbed and began to walk towards the door they came out of when they noticed Squall following.

"I'm sorry sir but you can't go into the theater." An assistant stuttered, shrinking into the others when Squall glared death at her, she stammered out another apology and quickly ushered the bed into theater. Selphie frowned and placed a hand on Squall's arm, offering silent comfort even though it wasn't what Squall wanted. Dr Odine shuffled to the door and gave a grim look.

"I vill do vat I can to stablise him, but it depends on how strong ze curse is. I vill let you know if anything happens." Dr Odine disappeared and the doors swished shut and there was an audible click as the lock was engaged.

"C'mon Squall, let's take a seat and oh look we have coffee!"

"I should have stopped him, damnit!" Selphie jumped at Squall's outburst and stepped back, unsure of what would happen if she stayed close to the other man. She wasn't worried that Squall would hurt her, Squall was too nice to do that but he might hurt himself.

And that was what was worrying.

Squall looked like he was ready to flip and she had never seen him like that before, hell no one had! Squall was always composed, always calm; he never lost his temper (excluding that time he threatened war with Galbadia, Selphie blamed the weather.) never raised his voice and never blamed himself. He usually took everything on the chin and persevered. Selphie opened her mouth to say something and then shut it again. What could she say?

"Seifer's always rash and brainless, he never listens, never follows orders...He does what he likes, screw the consequences... He..." Squall trailed off, rubbing a hand over his face, suddenly weary and just bone tired. He tensed when Selphie threw her arms round his neck and pulled him into a tight hug, forcing him to bury his face against her small shoulder.

"He'll make it Squall, like you said, he never listens and never follows order, he does what he likes. He's too stubborn to die. And if he did, he'd probably become a GF just so he could haunt you." Selphie stated, determined to get Squall out of his mood and by the quiet snort against her shoulder, she had done it. She pulled back and wacked Squall on the shoulder, watching as the man struggled to keep balance.

"Right, lets see if we can terrorise some of Dr Odine's assistants into letting you have a shower and some clean clothes, because you seriously have funk going on." Squall huffed and poked Selphie roughly on the forehead but followed after the nunchaku user with a longing glance at the theater doors.

It turns out they didn't need to terrorise anyone, it seemed word had spread through the small building and anyone they came across just about dropped everything to help. It was bout twenty minutes later that Squall was back staring at the theater door in fresh clothes and freshly showered. Selphie was on the other couch eating grapes, though most of them were on the floor as she was determined she was going to eat them by throwing them in the air and catching them with her mouth.

Squall huffed and began to pace, annoyed that the Estharian clothes he was wearing weren't his usual leathers and felt loose and uncomfortable against his body. What was taking so long? Was everything going okay? Was Seifer even alive?

_Seifer is still alive, the strange man and put him into a healing coma while they figure out how to rid him of curse._ Squall frowned and rubbed his forehead, feeling vertigo coming on.

_'What was that?'_ Squall stumbled to a free seat, vaguely wondering why Dr Odine had so many chairs when the deep voice came back.

_You know._

Squall grimaced and shut his eyes, feeling like Ellone had just attacked his mind again.

_'What ever or who ever you are, go away. Now is not the time.'_ Was he really having a conversation in his mind to a strange voice? He must have lost while captured by Ellone...Ultimecia. Whatever. Details, who needs them?

The was a snort within his mind. _I am Griever and I am watching over the knight right now._

"Really?" Squall eyes snapped open and he sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees and putting his hands together in a pyramid fashion. He ignored Selphie's quizzical look and focused on the voice within his mind.

_Yes, the knight is stubborn, he fights even within the healing coma. The strange man is going to inject him with an anticurse serum he has derived from Seifers blood._

Squall frowned and then calmly relayed the information back to Selphie who looked at him like he was insane and then she began to look eager, asking Squall if Griever had said anything else, just as the theater door opened and a gown covered assistant came out and explained about the serum.

It was an hour later that Griever spoke up, his deep voice grim. _The serum has failed and the knight's lung has collapsed under the strain. The dark magic is winning._ Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose and told Selphie the news who paled but kept calm. The waiting game was killing them both, knowing Seifer was on the other side of door but out of reach.

_'Isn't there any way to beat this curse?! You were her GF for years before you met me, you must know something Griever!'_ Squall mentally yelled and then yelled loudly when there was no reply. He stood up and began to pace again, ignoring how the room span every now and then. He wanted it over, wanted to know whether Seifer was going to live or not. In fact he just wanted Seifer back to how the blond normally was, he could live with the migraines, he could live with the sleepless nights fighting for the blonds freedom if only to just watch Seifer sitting on a pier fishing, or Seifer working on some battered car for a neighbor.

He just wanted Seifer, simple as that.

_There is a way to save him._

_'Tell me!'_

There was silence and Squall was ready to scream in frustration.

_Ultimecia has weakened my connection to Lionheart, the power I have stored within your sword is becoming unstable. If I..If we were to bind that power within the knight, it might cure him of curse._ Griever didn't sound so sure it would work but Squall thought they didn't have much to lose, Seifer was already dying.

Squall quickly repeated what Griever had said to Selphie and she nodded, turning determined eyes towards the locked door that separated them from Seifer. She stood and walked towards the door, giving Squall a wink and a beaming smile.

"Well then, lets go!"

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><p>AN: Please review. *holds out plate of cookies.*


	10. Chapter 10

Warnings: Selphie being herself. Medical terms though they may be inaccurate so apologies. Aeon like GF (where GF are actually spirits of the dead) and OC!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8 I'm just devout follower of Square Enix

A/N: That's right I'm back with another chapter! *cheers* Oh and I know not a lot of people read the A/N but please the one at the bottom the future of the next chapter is in your hands!

Enjoy!

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><p>Rinoa growled and threw the phone at the wall and then threw a mug just because she could; stupid delegates and their brainless egos! Galbadia Garden had refused to help with the monsters pouring out of Lunatic Pandora because apparently it was on Estharian ground and they had no reason to be there so they weren't going to help. Trabia flat-out shouted at her when she mentioned that Seifer was in Esthar, apparently they still held a grudge against the blond for destroying their Garden. Dollet, as nice as the town was, the soldiers didn't know their Fires from Blizzards so they were out. She vaguely thought about asking FH for help but then remembered that the Mayor was a pacifist and would rather offer tea to the beasts in an inane attempt to pacify and befriend them.<p>

She was up a creek without a paddle, her commanding officer was MIA with one of the best magic users she knew, Quistis was in the infirmary being checked after being slightly possessed by Ultimecia, Zell was probably in the cafeteria eating his weight in hotdogs and Irvine was flirting with Laguna's administrator because his favourite ball of energy wasn't there to distract him. Laguna was at Sorceress Memorial helping the scientists there and just being a worry wart over Ellone Ward was with him for protection and Kiros was...somewhere, she had lost track of him.

Rinoa flopped back into Lagunas chair and let out a deep sigh, rolling her shoulders in an attempt to relax the muscles there and closed her eyes and then had to blink several times before she fell asleep.

"You look awful." Rinoa looked up to see a soldier- a good-looking soldier, she faintly noted- holding out a steaming cup of coffee towards her with a grin. She glared at him for the insult but took the coffee and took a sip, ignoring how the liquid burnt her tongue.

"Thanks." The soldier snorted, running a hand through his strangely coloured hair.

"No problem, if you want I could call you some other names." Rinoa spluttered, choking on the coffee before she picked up a pen and threw it without a second thought. The solider laughed, ducked swiftly and practically danced to the doorway.

"Oh, by the way Kiros wants you down at the hanger." The soldier gave a wave and walked off, leaving Rinoa to blink to herself before she let out a giggle and ran a hand through her own hair before inhaling the rest of the coffee and standing from the chair, determined to get the problem sorted and get that soldiers number before she had to head back to Balamb.

Squall ran for cover behind one of the chairs as Selphie let out a battle cry and The End the door separating them from Seifer, he faintly wondered if he should have let Selphie blast the door open, he could have simply hacked it, but the situation seemed urgent and if there was a faster way of opening Estharian doors he would like to hear it.

Parts of the door and wall flew past with a terrible bang and Squall prayed that Seifer hadn't been hurt in the blast, he heard Griever snort and mutter about bouncy brunettes but before he could pay attention to what the GF was saying, Selphie gave a whistle and Squall took that as the cue for him to come out behind the chair.

The room was in ruins, there was debris everywhere, and really how much strength did Selphie put behind that attack? He was curious so as he climbed his way to what used to be the theatre door, he asked. Selphie grinned and brushed some dust out of her hair.

"Oh, well I wanted to make sure we made it through the door." Looking back at the gaping hole which used to be the door, Squall figured that he was happy with that answer and that he should have known better, if the gaping hole in the side of Lunatic Pandora was anything to go by.

There was a short corridor, well it was a short corridor, now it was more of a porch due to the damage Selphie had done. There was only one door and a horror-stricken assistant was standing in the doorway, her face frozen in shock. Squall gave her a once over to make sure she hadn't been hurt in the blast and once he was sure she was only suffering from shock, gently moved her out of the way and strolled into the theatre with a calm he wasn't feeling.

The theatre was a mess, the explosion had knocked trays of stuff and vials full of Hyne knows what on to the floor and panicked assistants were trying desperately to keep up with Dr Odine's demands as he stood on a stool, leaning over Seifer. The blond coat and shirt had been cut off and Dr Odine's hands were poking and prodding at the wound left by the ice; the blackish blood coating everything. There was still the faint golden green glow surrounding the wound meaning Curaja and the Holy Water were valiantly trying to keep the blond alive and starting to fail if the constant cursing from an assistant was to go by.

"Move out of the Dr Odine, Squall...well Griever has an idea." Selphie exclaimed cheerily, near tackling the busied doctor out of the way. Dr Odine let out a noise of discontent before looking curiously at Squall as the brunette rolled up his sleeves.

_'Okay, what do I do?'_

_Place your hands on the Knights chest and concentrate your magical power on to that spot._

Squall did as his told and placed his hands Seifer's well muscled chest, ignoring the way his own chest fluttered at the feel of bronze skin.

_'I'm not going to have to chant am I, because I don't chant.'_ There was a snort from within his mind and Squall sent a mental glare at the GF. He concentrated raw magical energy on to Seifer's chest, wondering how Griever managed to seal part of its power to Lionheart in the first place as Squall couldn't do magic through his gunblade, the blade wasn't made for that sort of use unlike Zell's gloves or Quistis's whip.

_Every GF user channels their magic through the weapon, some more than others. Some weapon like Lionheart stores magical energy, ready for the user to draw from in critical situations. Your struggle against Ultimecia in the Time compression caused you to subconciously draw that stored energy from your sword and unleash it against the Sorceress. The empty space left within your sword allowed me the chance to seal my power within as a subitute, the same with your pendant. We are going to do the same to the knight. We are going to force him to draw on my power until there is enough within him for us to seal it there permanantly. _Here Griever paused and Squall tensed, not liking the omnious silence from with in his mind, still he focused at the task at hand, no pun intended. It was a dangerous thing to do, pushing ones magic energy into another being and to be honest Squall never really paid much attention in class, too busy looking up leathers and new editions of Gunbladers Weekly, and if he didn't concentrate now, he could kill Seifer or blow the building, both he didn't want to happen.

It was a couple of minutes later when the heart monitor strapped to Seifer's finger began to beep fast and a couple of second more when Squall began to feel like something was sucking out his energy. In fact it felt a lot like Osmose was being cast repeatedly on him. His vision wavered silently and he had to lock his knee's to keep himself standing. The various life monitors were going haywire, Seifer's chest was rising and falling unsteadily fast and his other vitals were all over the place.

_The knight is doing as we planned, he is drawing your magical energy from you, the effects will be...unpleasant but you must stay conscious, he is nearing my power. The Knight needs to be connected to your sword or he'll draw me completely from you._

"Selphie, put Lionheart on the...b-bed and make sure Seifer is holding it." Squall took a deep breath, feeling the floor sway before his feet. He could hear Selphie's feet tapping across the floor hurriedly and then the slight breeze as she past him.

"Okay, Seifer is holding Lionheart," Here she frowned and started at the remarkably pale Squall who had sweat beginning to bead on his brow. "In fact, he nearly snatched it out of my hand even though he's under a powerful sedative."

_He can feel my power now, we are close to binding it to his body._ Griever hissed into Squalls mind, sounding a little strained himself. Squall gave a mental prod at the GF and got no reply.

Suddenly the heart monitor gave an awful wail before the screen gave a flash and then went silent, smoke beginning to billow out the back. The same happened to the other machines and the lights began to flicker wildly. Selphie gasped and rushed round the bed as Squall swayed dangerously and his knees buckled, causing him to slump on to the bed. She laid her hand on his shoulder to cry out and snatch her hand back when the sheer heat pouring from not only Squall's body but Seifer's nearly burned her.

Squall gasped from breath, trying valiantly to stay conscious but his vision was graying and the room span horribly making him wonder if he was going to throw up before he passed out. Griever had been roaring within his mind and now all was silent but he could feel the magical drain still happening. He watched through foggy vision as black steam began to hiss from the wounds on Seifer's chest, a putrid smell following before the wounds flared green and slowly began to heal.

Seifer was going to live!

Squall's heart pounded for joy for a few seconds before slowing as his eyes slipped shut, a faint echo of Griever's voice following him into darkness.

_My power has been binded on to Seifer's soul, he will live._

Selphie was beginning to panic, it had been twenty minutes since Seifer's wounds had sealed shut and Squall passed out and the brunette wasn't waking up, in fact his vital suggested he was in a coma. Dr Odine looked grim as he scanned every part of Squall twice and grumbled when he came back with the same results; Squall was in a coma.

Her gaze flickered briefly to Seifer who was now sleeping peacefully on the other side of the room, dressed in gray sleeping attire, the nurses were cooing over the blond, pushing back his hair when an errant piece slipped on to his forehead and traced the faint frown lines almost admiringly.

She looked back at Squall who was deathly pale and had a mask over his mouth to help him breathe. She raised a hand to her mouth and began to chew on a nail, feeling anxiety begin to squeeze her chest. Was this the price to save Seifer? Would Squall be in a coma for the rest of his life? As she watched Dr Odine scan Squall's brainwaves she had sinking feeling that Squall might not get better. The eccentric doctor kept muttering about damage to Squall's brain, that there was severe bruising along the area where memories were stored. At the grim look on the assistants face, Selphie couldn't help but remember back to her first aid training with Dr Kadowaki.

_"If should you unfortunately get a blunt force trauma to the brain victim and they have slipped into unconsciousness there is a high percentage that when that person regains consciousness they can suffer from severe memory loss even permanent amnesia. If you are able to get to them before they slip into unconsciousness, you must do everything in your power to keep them awake until a medic or CMO get's to you."_

Oh Hyne, the torture Ellone had put Squall through while missing, that could be counted as trauma to the brain. If Squall ever woke up, would he remember them? Remember who he was?

Selphie began to cry silently into her hands.

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><p>AN: Okay I'm not sure how many people read the Authors Notes so I'll make it quick, this story can go two ways; 1. Squall wakes up with amnesia and it's up to Seifer to joggle our little kitty memories 2. Squall wakes up after a few days of being comatose but remembers everything. R&R and let me know which way you want it to go.

Oh and I'm no doctor or anything but I do know that too much bruising or damage to the brain can cause amnesia.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own or make any money from this fanfiction.

Warnings: Not much really

A/N: I'm gonna chat as not many people read the Authors notes, just Review at the end and tell me what you think

ENJOY

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><p>Seifer groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, his head was pounding and his chest felt stiff but other than that he was fine. He was a little unsure as to why his chest was hurting though, the headache was probably from drinking too much with Raijin- wait… Seifer bolted up right, ignoring the shocked scream a nurse gave out and glanced round the room, looking for any signs of danger. He relaxed when he found only the disgruntled nurse who was giving him a very worthy death glare. He moved the thin blanket aside and moved to get out of bed when a firm hand grabbed his shoulder.<p>

The disgruntled nurse's stare was fierce and she was surprisingly strong as she tried to wrestle Seifer back into bed. "I'm sorry Mr Almasy but you're in no position in to get out of this bed, it was only yesterday that you were brought to us near dead." The nurse said her voice calm but left no room for arguments. Seifer raised a brow in question and then furrowed them in a frown when he realised that by all rights he should be dead after getting hit with that spear of ice. Raising a hand to his chest he was shocked to feel smooth, if not slightly hot to the touch, skin around where he had been pierced. It was like the wound had never happened.

"What happened?" Seifer questioned while trying to remove the nurses hands which were still trying to get him to lie down. The nurse sighed after a couple of minutes and stepped back, her face pale and tired, and full of sympathy as she tidied the covered on the bed.

"Yesterday you were brought to us by Commander Leonhart with severe curse poisoning to the nervous system. The curse had spread to all of your internal organs and it was a miracle that one of your friends knew how to combine spells with potions or you would have been dead. Dr Odine and several nurses brought you into theatre where we attempted to flush your body of the curse."

The nurse stopped and Seifer blinked when he spotted tears in the womans eyes. She took a deep breath and continued though her voice wavered with every word.

"It was mid operation when your heart began to fail and also when Commander Leonhart stormed into the theatre. I don't know how he did it but you owe that man your life, it is a shame that you won't be able to thank him-" Instantly Seifer was off the bed and gripping the nurse by the shoulders tightly, one second away from shaking her.

"What do you mean? Why won't I be able to thank him?" The nurse took a shuddering breath and stared into Seifer's confused eyes before she found the courage to answer.

"Commander Leonhart has been in a coma since yesterday."

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><p>Selphie hummed as she calmly brushed Squall's hair, smiling sadly at the thought that the man had to be in a coma for her to do it. If Squall had been awake he would have surely sent a death glare her way but as it was, he kept on sleeping soundly, the only noise in the room was the various monitors and machines surrounding the bed.<p>

She had stayed up all night, watching the brunette sleep, praying that Dr Odine was wrong and that Squall really was sleeping and that he would wake up at any minutes, blinking sleepily before the realisation that someone was in the room would cause him to be alert and glare. However nothing happened, no change is Squall's vitals, not even an eyelid flutter. Squall was dead to the world, locked somewhere far far away in his own mind. Dr Odine assured her that Squall didn't have any permanent damage to the brain, and that his brain would heal, but it was up to Squall if he awoke and when he did there was a high chance that he would have amnesia, how bad even Dr Odine didn't know, all the doctor knew was that someone had forced their way into Squall's memories with no finesse whatsoever and dug around until Squall's memories were in shambles.

'It is like someone had taken a finished Jigsaw puzzle and took all the pieces and moved them round' or so Dr Odine had said, 'it will take time to fit the pieces back the right way again, this is why Squall is in a coma with the damage and the magic exhaustion as well, Squall's body has done the only thing it can and shut down.' Selphie had hardly believed it when Dr Odine had told her that, it was hard to believe that Squall, the impenetrable, cold hearted, death glaring, sword wielding, stubborn leader, could be in a coma. It just didn't add up and it left Selphie in a panic. She hadn't realised how she, and probably the others, relied on Squall to be there, to guide them, to support them. When she looked back, every problem she had, every time she felt unsure about something, Squall had been there like a guardian angel.

"Oh Squall, please wake up soon. I miss you already." Selphie sighed, giggling when a stubborn lock of hair refused to lie flat on Squall's head. "Even your hair is stubborn, Squall. I know you can wake up. You never were one for sleeping." She put the brush to the side and began tidying Squall's covered like a doting mother, being careful not to knock any of the wires.

SMASH!

Selphie jumped at the sound, spinning round and grabbing her nunchucks, glaring at the door. Shouting could be heard from beyond the closed door, things being smashed and broken though Selphie couldn't make out the voice. She prepared herself just in case it was an enemy and when the door flew off the hinges she swung her nunchucks in a wide arch.

"Whoa!" Selphie gaped as the one pointed end of her nunchucks flew past a bright blond head and carved a deep groove into the wall.

"Hey watch it bouncy! You nearly took my head off!" Seifer fumed, watching as Selphie stared at him with an open mouth and until she threw the weapons on the floor and flew at him. Seifer grunted at the force Selphie flew into him with and grimaced when he noticed her thin shoulders shaking.

"Hey, no getting snot on my hospital greys! Stop with the snivelling!" Seifer exclaimed, feeling rather uncomfortable as he failed to pry Selphie off him as she sobbed into his chest and clung to him.

"Oh Seifer!" Selphie wailed, blinking up at Seifer with watery eyes, looking years younger and reminding Seifer of when they used to be children, how Selphie used to cling to Irvine's arm and stare at him with watery eyes when the cowboy tried to go somewhere without her. Seifer sighed, raising a hand and patting Selphie on the head like a dog.

"There there bouncy, all is alright now. I'm here." He assured, blinking when Selphie broke out in a beaming smile, her whole face lighting up.

"Yes! Maybe you can wake Squall up! Maybe a ki-oomph." Seifer slapped a hand over Selphie's mouth and gave her the most intimidating look he could while dressed in hospital greys.

"Selphie, go and get me a cup of coffee and stop referring to Squall as Sleeping Beauty."Seifer ordered, feeling a shudder run down his back at the thought of Squall and his fury when he woke up because even if the brunette was asleep, he would have heard what Selphie was going to say. Selphie glanced at the bed and shuddered as well, obviously having the same thoughts. She nodded her head and when Seifer removed his hand she was off like a shot.

Seifer looked at the bed, ignoring the various nurses trying to fix the door. He walked up to the bed and frowned at what he saw. Squall was pale, paler then the white sheets he lay on, he had a oxygen mask on and had drips going into his left hand and arm. Dark rings lay under his eyes which barely moved. It was horrible to see and Seifer felt his chest ache more at the sight.

He slumped into the chair and ran a hand through his hair to push it out of his face, trying to gather his thoughts. After the disgruntled nurse had told him that Squall was in a coma, he had literally ran from the room, demanding to see Squall however the nurses were determined to herd him back to bed, worried that he might collapse, but Seifer felt fine, better then fine in fact he felt fantastic. He felt like he had drunk about several cups of coffee in one go.

He glanced round the bare room; it was just white walls, no pictures, no flowers, nothing. He looked at the machines watching as they all beeped so quietly it was hard to hear. There was a hologram device that showed a picture of Squall's bran activity, most parts were a healthy green colour however the area that were supposedly Squall's memory cortex was an alarming shade of red, ringed with purple and it didn't seem to be disappearing either.

He looked back at Squall, his eyes flicking to his free hand and felt the urge to hold Squall's hand which looked so fragile against the sheets but he didn't dare. The last time he could remember being close to Squall while he was injured, he had made a joke about holding Squall's hand and went to do so and found himself a getting a nasty kick to his privates. Even now after all these years, it made him hesitant to go near Squall while the man vulnerable. Squall had always been a wildcat when he was at his most vulnerable; lashing out with cold looks, harsh words-sometimes- and devastating attacks but Seifer couldn't blame him for that. Growing up in an orphanage is hard, you have to be strong all the time, watch your back all the time just in case an older, vindictive child decided to go for you because you had a pen they wanted or something stupid like they didn't like your hair.

Seifer had been lucky, he had grown up big, with wide shoulders and a strong build even as a child while Squall had been lean, lithe almost and easily mistaken for a girl as a child. It was why Seifer had begun to bully Squall even as a child. In a twisted way it was to protect him against the other older children; no one went near Squall without Seifer finding out and when he did, oh boy were they in for it.

But looking at Squall now, Seifer felt helpless; there was nothing he could do to help Squall now. He couldn't bully him out of a coma though he wished he could. The only thing he could do was sit there and be a silent guardian to the brunette. _Ah screw it, he'll kick me anyway._ Seifer reached out and held Squall's hand, feeling the cold clammy skin and frowning before barking out a laugh. "Even in a coma, you're still an ice prince!" Seifer glanced at the heart monitor when the steady slow beep, became a little faster before settling again. Looking back at Squall, he decided to test a theory; well people always said that patients in a coma can hear everything.

"I know you can hear me Squally so don't even try to ignore me," The heart monitor gave another set of fast beeps. "How dare you take the heroism away from me, there I was being the hero for once and you have to go and do something like this. Typical, always the drama queen." Seifer gave a suffering sigh even as he unconsciously began to stroke his thumb across Squall's knuckles, his lips quirking when the heart monitor beeped a little faster at his words. The holographic project wavered as it updated with the recent data, the picture seemingly looking the same as before but Seifer squinted at it, he was sure something was different.

"Hey Pretty Boy, did you know your brain is pretty lame…?" Seifer carried on looking at the hologram, talking about anything and everything, enjoying the steady but faster beeps of Squall's heart monitor.

Selphie stood in the doorway, a cup of coffee in one hand and Squall's medical notes which she stole of a nurse in the other, she wore a soft smile on her face. She didn't dare move as she didn't want to ruin the moment but knew had to.

"Seifer? Here is your coffee and Squall's medical notes. I thought you'd like to read them." Seifer snorted as he took the offered items

"Sure, I always wondered what Squall's medical history was like," Selphie giggled and quickly grabbed another chair, faintly noticing that Seifer had yet to release Squall's hand. "So are you going to explain to me how I'm still alive?"

"Well, We're not really sure but Dr Odine says that Squall transferred all of his magical energy into your body, forcing it to heal your body and rid you of the curse, however after doing some tests on you, he says that he's found another magical energy that's nothing like what he's seen before. But I do know that it had something to do with Griever and Lionheart." Selphie explained, watching as Seifer's eyesbrows rose and then the blond swore, sending a vicious glare at the soundly sleeping Squall.

"That idiot!"

"What? What is it Seifer?" Selphie asked, feeling the hairs raise on the back of her neck.

"When I was Ultimecia's knight, the crazy witch liked to do experiments and one of them was GF energy transference,"

"Transference?"

"Yes, she sealed some of the pure GF energy into herself, how else do you think she managed to merge herself and the GF Griever into one being. By doing this she was able to draw magic not from just her own energy but also from Griever's, making her spells much more devastating. It was an insane thing to do because it required flooding a certain area in the body with pure, uncontrolled magical energy, especially from a GF." Seifer's grip tightened on Squall's hand and he glared at Squall even harder.

Selphie frowned, "You mean, in order to save your life, Squall flooded your body with his magical essence and then sealed a part of Griever inside you?"

"Yes." Seifer snapped out.

"Oh." Selphie slumped back in her seat, feeling a little overwhelmed. "That's crazy, he could have died!" She cried out when it finally sank in. Seifer nodded his head.

"Yeah he could have but Griever is also sealed with Squall too so that's probably the reason why Squall is in a coma and not dead."

"It's just insane!" Selphie shook her head, her mind going into overdrive.

Seifer laughed, gulping the rest of his coffee. "No, It's Squall, he acts like a cold hearted jerk but he has the heart of gold and cares about everyone." Selphie laughed before she sighed.

"Do you think he'll wake up?" Seifer shrugged.

"I don't know, hell I've never known what's going through Squall's mind, and if these notes are right, at this moment in time, neither does Squall."

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><p><em>Squall looked round, frowning when he spotted half a building floating on the sea, tree's that seemed to be made of golden feathers and a beach made of bones. He looked at the only thing that didn't seem to be from a badly made fantasy movie and that was the ruins of an old building that was vaguely familiar to him. He walked along the beach, ignoring the crunch of bones or how a train flew past upside down, or how a dog with a halo and wings sat just at the edge of the golden feathered forest. It all looked familiar but he just couldn't remember where he'd seen it all.<em>

_He made it to the ruins, glancing up at the sky as lightning flashed and danced across the dark clouds. He walked inside, frowning even more when the rain that just began to pour didn't reach him._

"_What in the world is this place?" Squall spoke aloud as he glanced at the six half rotten beds, at the toys that lay on the floor. He bent and picked up a plush Tonberry that had one beady eye and one black button for the other. Again it looked familiar._

'…_Seify!' Squall swung round, glancing round frantically and just catching the glimpse of someone running past the doorway. He quickly followed and stumbled when he found himself in a desert with a massive building made of sand._

"_What?" He turned round and saw the ruined house one the dry dirt land with the rain still pouring but the rain stopped at the edge of the sand, the two never meeting. _

_He looked between the two buildings and shook his head, confusion and fear making his heart pound._

'_bark!' Squall glanced at the angelic dog that sat at the edge of the ruined house, brown eyes staring at him._

_He calmly walked towards the dog, clutching the Tonberry plush tightly. "Hey boy," The dog barked again and stood up, its tail wagging happily. Squall smiled and went to stroke the dog only to find his hand passed right through it._

"_What?" The dog yelped and jumped back, shaking its head. "What? I don't understand!" Squall asked, looking back the Tonberry toy he held firmly to the dog he couldn't touch. The dog barked and moved to the doorway and barked again._

"_You want me to follow you?" The dog nodded its head and walked off, leaving Squall to scramble after it, never noticing a shadow following after him._

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><p>AN: Again review and tell me what you think :)


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